Latin America and the Caribbean

In 2006, Uruguay employed roughly 400 fte researchers and spent 848 million Uruguayan pesos (in current prices) on agricultural research. INIA’s funding structure is unique in Latin America in that it receives the proceeds of a commodity tax levied on the total sales value of agricultural commodities in Uruguay and an equal  contribution from the national government as counterpart funding. In light of this, INIA is highly dependent on the total production value of Uruguay’s agricultural sector.

In 2006, Paraguay employed just 128 fte researchers and spent $13 million (in 2005 PPP prices) on agricultural research. The country compares very unfavorably to its MERCOSUR neighbors when it comes to agricultural research capacity and investments. Paraguay has experienced a steady decline in agricultural researcher totals since the early 1990s; it has one of the lowest shares of agricultural R&D staff with PhD degrees in the world; and its agricultural R&D investments as a share of agricultural GDP are five to seven times lower than those in neighboring Argentina and Brazil.

Total public agricultural R&D capacity in Mexico has gradually increased over the past two decades. In 2006, the country as a whole employed more than 4,000 fte agricultural research staff, making it the second largest agricultural R&D system in Latin America after Brazil. The institutional structure of the country’s agricultural R&D, however, has become increasingly diversified. Since the early 1990s, research staff increases were observed for the higher education sector and government agencies other than INIFAP, whereas totals at INIFAP have continuously declined.

After a decade of strong growth during the 1980s, the expansion of overall agricultural research capacity in Colombia stalled in the mid-1990s. In 2006 the country as a whole employed roughly 1,000 fte scientists involved in agricultural R&D. A rapid fall in the number of research staff at CORPOICA combined with increased  agricultural research activities undertaken by producer associations, higher education agencies, and government agencies other than CORPOICA have increasingly diversified the institutional structure and focus of agricultural R&D in Colombia.

Despite a decrease in the total number of researchers at INIA in recent years, overall agricultural research capacity in Chile rose gradually during 1981–2006. In  2006, the country as a whole employed close to 700 fte scientists involved in agricultural R&D. The country’s agricultural R&D spending, however, developed more erratically. The completion of a large IDBfinanced project, in addition to cost-cutting measures introduced by INIA, have led to a gradual fall in the country’s expenditures since the late 1990s.

This brief provides an overview of the major investment trends in agricultural research in Central America since the early 1980s, drawing on a new set of data developed through a comprehensive survey by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

Although the countries in Central America share many cultural and socioeconomic characteristics, important national differences of relevance to agricultural R&D exist  among them. In countries like Guatemala and El Salvador, agricultural R&D is largely undertaken by government agencies, whereas most of the research in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica is conducted by higher education agencies. In addition, the nongovernmental sector—which includes producer organizations plays a significant role in carrying out agricultural R&D in Honduras and Costa Rica.

Many developing and developed countries are experiencing stagnant and even declining investment in public agricultural research. Expenditure is increasing in only a few of the larger and often more advanced developing countries. Brazil ranks third in the developing world in terms of public agricultural R&D investments after China and India. After a period of stable or declining expenditure levels, total public agricultural R&D spending has increased substantially in recent years due to renewed commitment to agricultural R&D on the part of the Brazilian government.

This brief provides an overview of the major investment trends in public agricultural research in Argentina since the early 1980s, drawing on a new set of data developed through a comprehensive survey by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).