50 Agriculiural Research and Produciiviiy 



The Experiment Station and Stage 3 Diffusion 



The numerous experiment stations created in the late 1920s and 

 the 1930s generally initiated cane-breeding progress based on the 

 interspecific hybridization principles. These breeding programs 

 did not produce new stage 4 varieties until the 1940s, as thou- 

 sands of seedlings had to be tested to find a superior variety, the 

 testing activity normally requiring from eight to ten years.^ The 

 experiment stations did, however, perform a role in diffusing the 

 stage 3 varieties during the 1930s. 



Table 3.6: Variety Adoption Analysis: 21 Diffused Varieties 

 Regression / 2 



Dependent variable Years from Average 



introduction adoption 



(N) rate 



(K/N) 



/?2 .73 .48 



Constant 7.20 1.80 



Peak percentage (KJ .127 — 



(5.95) 



Research (R/P) -124.0 112.6 



(5.27) (4.13) 



Notes: 

 N: Number of years from introduction to peak percentage (sample mean = 



9.05). 

 K: Peak percentage of variety (sample mean = 34). 



R: Number of senior researchers in recipient country (sample mean = 5.92). 

 P: Production of sugar (at time of introduction) in thousand tons of crude sugar 



(sample mean = 997). 

 In parentheses: / values. 



Evidence regarding a set of twenty-one cases of stage 2 and 3 

 varieties that were adopted in seven different countries, mostly 

 during the 1930s, is examined in table 3.6. For each variety, the 



7. See chapter 8 for a theoretical model that views applied research as a search 

 for superior technologies in the distribution of ail known and unknown 

 technologies. 



