“…The impact of agricultural R&D on productivity, income, and poverty alleviation has been examined intensively (e.g., Alston, 2018; Alston & Pardey, 2013; Deng et al., 2021; Fan et al., 2005; Huang & Rozelle, 2009; Lai et al., 2017). These studies, however, usually focus on the direct impact of agricultural R&D and give little thought to the spillover effect caused by spatial correlation.…”