Title: The green economics of conventional, organic and genetically modified crops farming: a review

Authors: Yirviel Janvier Métouolé Méda; Irene Susana Egyir; John Baptist Donsaananang Jatoe; Calvin Atewamba; Pam Zahonogo

Addresses: Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, University of Ghana, Legon, P.O. Box LG 68, Legon, Accra, Ghana ' Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, University of Ghana, Legon, P.O. Box LG 68, Legon, Accra, Ghana ' Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, University of Ghana, Legon, P.O. Box LG 68, Legon, Accra, Ghana ' United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), Private Mail Bag, Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana ' Unit of Training and Research in Economics and Management (UFR-SEG), University Ouaga II, 03 BP 7164 Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso

Abstract: There are many controversies about the relative performances of conventional farming (CF), organic farming (OF) and genetically modified crops farming (GMCF) technologies. This paper aimed to identify the overall best technology by reviewing the performances of CF, OF and GMCF from a green economics perspective. Existing literature could not allow for identification of the overall best technology because of two methodological limitations in the assessments of the performances of CF, OF and GMCF. First, most assessments did not consider all the three technologies together when assessing their performances. Second, they investigated economic, environmental and social performance indicators separately. The paper suggests a more comprehensive approach through the lenses of an integrated framework of green economic performance leading to a composite indicator, and comparisons of all three technologies. Additional guidelines are provided on statistical techniques for robust comparisons of these agricultural technologies in order to better inform policy development.

Keywords: assessment; comparison; composite indicators; conventional farming; economic performance; environmental performance; social performance; GM crops; green economics; methods; organic farming; performance indicators; review; agricultural technology; genetically modified crops; agriculture.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGE.2017.082714

International Journal of Green Economics, 2017 Vol.11 No.1, pp.15 - 40

Received: 24 Nov 2016
Accepted: 22 Dec 2016
Published online: 08 Mar 2017 *

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