Background
Mellor, John Williams was born on December 28, 1928 in Paris. Came to the United States, 1929. Son of Desmond W. and Katherine (Beardsley) Mellor.
( Most researchers on agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa h...)
Most researchers on agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa have become pessimistic about future potential after observing the decline of food output per capita over the past two decades. Although the authors of this study identify factors that have resulted in this stagnation, they also document technological successes and then develop a strategy for increasing the effectiveness of future research and development. This strategy is evaluated using field studies and modeling from the major agroecological zones of crop production. The authors address the higher-input, yield-increasing strategy from the perspective of risk, sustainability, and the impact on women. They also consider alternative approaches to increasing output through area expansion and livestock-crop integrated systems. The strategy emphasizes the combined effects of water availability, soil fertility, and new cultivars. It requires public support for adaptive research, higher input purchases by farmers, and increased foreign-exchange expenditures. However, there have already been successes with this strategy, and a more rapid adoption is expected to accelerate the growth of agricultural output and to increase the efficiency of agricultural research. The authors maintain that it is now appropriate to be more optimistic about the potential of Africa to feed itself and to maintain its resource base.
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Mellor, John Williams was born on December 28, 1928 in Paris. Came to the United States, 1929. Son of Desmond W. and Katherine (Beardsley) Mellor.
Bachelor of Science, Master of Science (Agriculture Economics) Cornell University, 1950, 1951. Diploma (Agriculture Economics) University Oxford, 1952. Doctor of Philosophy Cornell University, 1954.
Professor Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 1953—1975. Chief economist United States Agency for International Development, Washington, 1975—1977. Director International Food Policy Research Institute, 1977—1991.
President John W. Mellor Associates, Inc., 1991—1998. Vice president Abt Associates, Inc., 1998—2006. President John Mellor Associates, Inc., since 2006.
Member board on agricultural National Academy of Sciences, 1989-1992. Member Agricultural Credit Commission, Reserve Bank India, 1986-1988.
( Most researchers on agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa h...)
Author: Economics of Agricultural Development, 1966 (American Agricultural Economics Association award 1978), Accelerating Food Production Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1987, Agricultural Price Policy for Developing Countries, 1988 (honorable mention American Agricultural Economics Association 1989), Agriculture on the Road to Industrialization, 1992.
Delineation of the role of the agricultural sector in the economic growth of low-income countries. Particular emphasis given to documenting and conceptualising the level and composition of intersectoral resource transfers. For these purposes two sector models have been explored: critiques of standard growth theory drawn and social accounting methods applied.
A variant of this work has been analysis of the links between growth in agricultural production and income and small-scale non-agricultural activities in rural market towns. Work on labour transfers has conceptualised the basis of peasant labour allocations, the role of marketing of food in determining inter-sectoral labour transfers, and the interaction of change in technology with these processes. Work on agricultural price policy has dealt with the interaction of income distribution and production effects.
Member International Commission on Food and Peace, since 1988. Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy Arts and Sciences, American Agricultural Economics Association (Best Public Research award 1967).
Sailing, skiing.
Married Arlene Patton, June 15, 1950 (divorced September 1972). Children: Michael, Brian, Mark (deceased). Married Uma Lele, February 17, 1973 (divorced April 1992).
Married Zarmina Said, October 16, 1997.