Key Trends from the 2003 country brief

• Kenyan agricultural research is relatively well funded compared with other countries in Africa, but it is still somewhat inadequate given the country’s large research portfolio.
• The share of total agricultural GDP that Kenya invests in agricultural research (known as its investment intensity ratio) was 2.6 percent in 2000—considerably higher that the Sub-Saharan African regional average and close the corresponding rate for the developed world.
• The Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) is the main agricultural research agency in Kenya and accounted for more than half the country’s total spending and research staff in 2000.
• KARI is highly dependent on donor funding. During 1993–2000, close to half the total revenue came from two consecutive World Bank loans and contributions from other donors.
• In recent years KARI was reorganized with a view to increasing its efficiency. This process included the privatization of seed production activities and sugar research. At the same time, KARI expanded its portfolio of contract research.

Kenya

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