This study has developed a methodology that builds on the approach to measuring agricultural research returns suggested by Alston et al (1995). We have integrated a herd model to measure the potential size of impact of a new technology, GIS, to predict where this impacts is likely to be felt, and the economic surplus model to estimate some of the costs of trypanosomosis, the potential benefits of controlling it, and potential returns to vaccine research. The advantage of this approach is that it uses field data and GIS analysis to determine where and how much impact research will have on livestock productivity, rather than 'guesstimates' by researchers, as has often been done in previous studies of returns to agricultural research. It is an approach, however, that requires much data and the type of information that is still scarce in many developing countries. This includes evidence of the productivity impacts of a given livestock technology at the herd, rather than individual animal level, and access to GIS data at the lowest adminstrative level possible (e.g. district). Ideally, household level survey data are used to complement the GIS data and verify the recommendation domain. Thus this approach will be enhanced in future analyses by the availability of a wider range of data collected at the household level from different livestock production systems to examine more closely the question 'Impact on whom?'

Impact of chemoprophylactic control of trypanosomosis in coastal Kenya; Economic impact of N'Dama cattle in tsetse-affected areas of Zaire, Togo, Ethiopia and The Gambia; Adoption of dairy feeding management in the Ethiopian highlands; Costs and benefits of alternative theileriosis control strategies in Zimbabwe; Impacts of east coast fever immunisation in coastal and highland Kenya; Fodder bank adoption in northern Nigeria; Impact of land tenure on adoption of alley farming in West Africa; Impact of crossbred dairy-draft technology in Ethiopia; Impact of livestock on alley farming systems in West Africa; Impact of dairy intensification on Africa peri-urban milk production systems; Constraints to use of animal traction in semi-arid West Africa; Impacts of dairy intensification on nutrition and health in coastal Kenya; Economic impact of theileriosis and its control in Africa.