In Afro-Asia and Latin America the adoption of innovations was equally
slow, but the great increase in population since 1945 has meant an increased
demand for food. This has to some extent been met by traditional methods,
but there have also been attempts by governments and international agencies
to accelerate the adoption of innovations that would raise crop yields. The
spread of new high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice clearly illustrate the
rise of 'induced innovation'. The research on the breeding of hybrid maize
was first undertaken in the United States, on semi-dwarf wheat in the United
States and Mexico, and on hybrid rices in the Phillipines by groups of
scientists financed by the Ford Foundation of the United States. Since 1965
the new rices have spread rapidly through Asia owing to the intervention of
governments who have provided extension workers, who have explained the
new farming methods that are necessary, and subsidized the use of fertilizers
and irrigation (Dalrymple, 1979; Hayami and Ruttan, 1971).