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Authors:

Kathleen Flaherty and Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi

Year:

2014

Publisher

International Food Policy Research Institute and Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria.

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By virtue of size, Nigeria leads  SSA in terms of agricultural  research capacity and spending levels. Nevertheless, its investment in agricultural research as a share of agricultural GDP has always been quite low (0.33 percent in 2011).

Yearly growth in agricultural R&D spending slowed during 2009–2011 and fluctuated significantly from year to year. The country still needs substantial research-related infrastructure, equipment, and facilities.        
        
Researcher capacity at Nigeria’s ARCN institutes increased across all qualification levels during 2009–2011, but most strongly among those qualified to the MSc-degree level. The slow growth of researchers with PhD degrees is of concern because half of the institutes’ senior researchers are approaching retirement age.    International Food Policy Research Institute and Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria.