Africa south of the Sahara

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

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.

After a decade of stagnation during the 1990s, investments and human resource capacity in public agricultural research and development (R&D) averaged more than 20 percent growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) during 2001–2008. In 2008, the region spent $1.7 billion on agricultural R&D (in 2005 purchasing power parity dollars)—or $0.8 billion (in 2005 constant US dollars)—and employed more than 12,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) agricultural researchers.