Overview publications

Recent chapter prepared by ASTI that provides recent trends in investments and human resource capacity in African agricultural R&D.

Given the goals of economic growth and poverty reduction, as well as the challenges of rapid population growth, climate change, and food price volatility, Africa south of the Sahara must invest in research and development (R&D) to boost agricultural productivity. This chapter provides a data-driven analysis of the region’s recent progress in investing in financial resources and human resource capacity related to agricultural R&D.

Absolute levels of staffing in public agriculture research and development (R&D) vary considerably across the 39 countries in Africa south of the Sahara participating in the Agricultural Science and Technology Indicator (ASTI) survey (Map 1). In 2011, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania each employed more than 500 full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers each1.

Growth in public agriculture research and development (R&D) spending levels in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA)  varied widely from 2008 to 2011 (Map 1). Continentwide growth was driven by a handful of larger countries. However, 13 of the 39 countries for which Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) data are available experienced negative annual growth in public agricultural R&D spending during 2008/09–2011.¹

New quantitative evidence presented in this report demonstrates  that total public agricultural R&D spending in Asia–Pacific increased by 50 percent, from $8.2 billion in 1996 to $12.3 billion in 2008 (in 2005 PPP prices). Most of this growth was driven by the region’s low- and middle-income countries, whereas growth in the region’s high-income countries stagnated. In fact, growth in public agricultural R&D spending in the region’s low- and middle-income countries has outpaced growth in all other developing regions around the world since the 1980s.

Overall, global agricultural R&D spending in the public and private sectors steadily increased between 2000 and 2008. As further proof of positive development, most of this growth was driven by developing countries, since growth in high-income countries stalled. But, spending growth in developing countries was largely driven by positive trends in a number of larger, more advanced middle-income countries—such as China and India—masking negative trends in numerous smaller, poorer, and more technologically challenged countries.

New quantitative evidence presented in this report demonstrates that total public agricultural R&D spending in South Asia more than doubled between 1996 and 2009, while the number of agricultural researchers decreased by 6 percent. These trends were largely driven by India, which has the highest investment levels and strongest human resource capacity in agricultural research South Asia by far (both in terms of size and qualification levels), as well as the highest agricultural research spending intensity at 0.4 percent of AgGDP.

The promise and challenges inherent in agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa prompted the conference,“Agricultural R&D: Investing in Africa’s Future—Analyzing Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities,” which was convened by the Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) initiative—facilitated by the International Food Policy Research Institute(IFPRI)—and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). The goal of the conference was to define a road map for revitalizing agricultural research in the region focusing on four principal themes:

Chapter 5: Agricultural R&D in Africa: Investment, human capacity, and policy constraint, in: Improving Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems OECD Conference Proceedings

This conference proceedings from the OECD Conference on Agricultural Knowledge Systems (AKS), held in Paris inJune 2011, discusses experiences and approaches to AKS explores how to foster development and adoption of innovation to meet global food security and climate change challenges.

Maintaining, Disseminating, and Analyzing Agricultural R&D Data in Sub-Saharan Africa

The objective of ASTI’s recent subregional technical review workshops was to elicit feedback from national collaborators in Sub-Saharan Africa on their experiences in implementing ASTI’s national survey rounds and to explore ideas and suggestions as to how ASTI’s activities in the region can be improved and strengthened. The discussion during the workshops focused on all aspects of the process—specifically, collecting, synthesizing, analyzing, disseminating, and using ASTI data.

Since the turn of the millennium, total public agricultural R&D investments and capacities increased in most ASARECA countries. The growth in investments was largely the result of increased government commitments, although agricultural R&D continues to be highly dependent on donor funding and development bank loans. Furthermore, increased government contributions were most often directed toward salary increases and improvements to infrastructure and equipment.