College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Bio-Info

Dr. Byron Reyes has experience in assessing the impact of agricultural research in developing countries at the national and international levels. He currently works conducting impact assessment of various research initiatives in two projects: Strengthening Impact Assessment in the CGIAR System (SIAC) and the Legume Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Grain Legumes.  As part of his activities, he collaborates with CGIAR and National Centers, Legume Innovation Lab researchers (plant breeders, entomologists, agronomists, socio-economists) based in different U.S. universities, and with Legume Innovation Lab host country partners in Latin America and Africa. His work involves contributing to new and ongoing research which focuses on:

• Develop, pilot, and verify innovative methods for collection and assembly of diffusion data (SIAC project);
• Institutionalize the collection of diffusion data needed to conduct critical CGIAR impact evaluations (SIAC project);
• Assessing the impact of agricultural research in Latin America and Africa on smallholder bean and cowpea producers (Legume Innovation Lab project);
• Assessing the effectiveness of modern information and communication technologies (e.g., cell phone, DVDs) in disseminating information on improved agricultural technologies and practices to farmers (Legume Innovation Lab project); and
• Evaluating the impact of bio-control agents to control cowpea pests (Legume Innovation Lab project).

Byron also has fieldwork and practical experience, which includes survey design, planning, and primary data collection; data collection thru expert elicitation using structured questionnaires; the use of molecular techniques to estimate adoption of improved varieties; and using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) software to collect primary data.

Research and Outreach Interests

• Estimate the economic impact of improved varieties in developing countries, using household level data
• Assess the impact of agricultural research on nutrition and health in developing countries
• Use of alternative technologies to collect household data for impact evaluation

Research Impact

Research/Outreach Networking Indicators

• Google Scholar Publications and Citations
• RePEc (Log Ec) Access Statistics

Publications

All Publications (View all Reyes’ publications on Google Scholar sorted by year)

Presentations

Recent Research and Policy Presentation Videos

• Economic Impact Evaluation of Improved Bean Varieties in Central America.2011. By Byron Reyes. Presentation. Latin American Learning Open Resource Collection

Recent Research and Policy Presentations

• An Assessment of the Bean Seed Distribution Models Implemented Under the Bean Technology Dissemination Project: Results of key informant interviews and surveys conducted in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. 2014. By Mywish Maredia, Byron Reyes, and David DeYoung, Michigan State University.  Presentation at Final Regional Workshop of the BTD Project, Guatemala, 19‐20 March.

• Characteristics of a Sustainable Seed System: Application of the principles of sustainability to two models used in Central America. 2014. By Byron Reyes and  Mywish K. Maredia.  Michigan State University.  Presentation at a Session on Innovations in Sustainable Seed Systems for Grain Legumes.  Legume Innovation Lab Global Meeting, Athens, May 14.

• Maredia, M and Reyes, B. 2013. “Impact Pathways and Relevance to Legume Innovation Lab Projects” Legume Innovation Lab Project Planning Meetings.
• Reyes, B. A. Bernsten, R. H. Maredia, M., Crawford, E. W. 2012. “Seed Systems as a Basis for Achieving Impacts from Research Investments in Bean and Cowpea Breeding”. 2012 Global Researchers Meeting, Dry Grain Pulses CRSP, Rwanda, February 14.
• Improved Bean Varieties in Central America and Ecuador Generate Economic Benefits to Farmers. By Byron Reyes.  English version;  Spanish version  Legume Innovation Lab Impact Brief No. 1. 
• Impact Brief, 2: Sustaining a Steady Flow of High Yielding, Improved Bean Varieties Through the Bean Research Network in Central America. By Byron Reyes. English version;   Spanish version*  Legume Innovation Lab Impact Brief No. 2. 
• Impact study on bean improvement research in Central America and Ecuador.  By Byron Reyes.
• ProRenda: Estudo de base, Zona Planalto de Angola.  Cynthia Donovan, Byron Reyes and Valerie Kelly.  Universidade Estadual de Michigan.  Huambo, Angola  14 de Junho, 2010.

Projects

• Strengthening Impact Assessment in the CGIAR System - SIAC
• Impact Assessment of Bean/Cowpea & Dry Grain Pulses CRSP: Research, Outreach & Training Investments
• MSU/USAID Bureau for Food Security, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Grain Legumes (Legume Innovation Lab)