Publication cover

Authors:

Nienke Beintema, Lawrence Mose, Festus Murithi, Rosemary Emongor, and Titus Kibet

Year:

2016

Publisher

International Food Policy Research Institute and Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization

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Slower overall growth

Growth in agricultural research spending during 2000–2014 mostly stemmed from increased capacity at Kenya’s higher education agencies and among government organizations other than KALRO. Contractions in government and donor contributions caused KALRO’s spending levels to stagnate during 2011–2013 and decline in 2014. Agricultural research spending as a share of AgGDP fell from 1.33 in 2000 to 0.79 in 2014, reflecting strong agricultural growth, not declining research spending. The total number of agricultural researchers changed little during 2011–2014.

Improved coordination

In efforts to improve the coordination and efficiency of resource use, KARI, KESREF, CRF, and TRFK were merged to form KALRO in 2014. This change—which follows institutional structures in place in other countries, such as Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and India—is expected to improve integration between the government and higher education sectors and encourage closer collaboration among private, regional, and international research organizations in support of a more dynamic, innovative, and efficient agricultural research system.

Declining funding to KALRO

While declining government funding to KALRO and its predecessors from 2011 negatively affected research overall, EAAPP funding strengthened KALRO’s human and institutional capacity in the area of dairy research. The recent reallocation of commodity tax revenues to nonresearch-related activities will only exacerbate the funding shortfall KALRO experienced in 2014–2015 as a result of its restructuring. KALRO is endeavoring to address this challenge by promoting the generation of internal revenues through the sale of good and services.

Dwindling capacity at KALRO

An internal evaluation determined that, in order to fulfill its research potential, KALRO would need to increase agricultural researcher numbers by 40 percent. Yet capacity is actually expected to decline in the coming years because a large number of (especially PhD-qualified) researchers are approaching retirement age. By preventing KALRO from replacing departing and retiring staff with young scientists, the ongoing hiring freeze further complicates this challenge, creating a long-term impediment to the conduct and continuity of research.