Crop Genetic Diversity, Farm Productivity and the Management of Environmental Risk in Rainfed Agriculture

This paper presents an assessment of the linkages between crop genetic diversity, farmproductivity and risk management. A flexible moment-based approach is used toanalyse the impact of crop genetic diversity on the mean, variance and skewness ofyield. Using farm-level data from Sicily (Italy), econometric evidence shows howcrop genetic diversity can increase farm productivity and reduce risk exposure. Theempirical results indicate that crop genetic diversity can reduce variance, but only ifpesticide use is low. Furthermore, high diversity levels can reduce downside riskexposure (e.g. the risk of crop failure). This provides useful insights on the linkagesbetween resilience and crop genetic diversity.