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Authors:

Gert-Jan Stads, San Traoré, and Léa Vicky Magne Domgho

Year:

2014

Publisher

International Food Policy Research Institute and Environment and Agricultural Research Institute (INERA)

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Agricultural R&D spending in Burkina Faso has followed a highly erratic pattern in recent years. The government funds research staff salaries, but operating costs and capital investments are largely dependent on volatile donor funding.
 
Underinvestment in agricultural R&D is serious. In 2011, Burkina Faso invested only 0.42 percent of its AgGDP in agricultural R&D, which is well below the recommended 1-percent target set by the NEPAD and the United Nations.
 
The national number of agricultural researchers grew until 2006, but thereafter steadily declined. In 2011, the country employed 218 FTE researchers, roughly half of whom held PhD degrees.