Key Trends from the 2003 country brief

• Total agricultural researcher numbers in Guinea increased gradually throughout the 1990s, while agricultural R&D expenditures declined, showing a more erratic trend.
• The main agricultural R&D agency is the Agricultural Research Institute of Guinea (IRAG), accounting for nearly two-thirds of the country’s agricultural researchers and expenditures in 2001.
• In addition to bilateral donor contributions, IRAG was largely dependent in the 1990s on two consecutive projects that were funded by World Bank loans.
• The future of IRAG’s funding remains uncertain with the completion of projects funded by the World Bank and cessation of funding from the French government. Two-thirds of IRAG’s research programs have recently been dramatically cut, and the vast majority of IRAG’s support staff has been retrenched.

Guinea