Authors:
Lang Gao, Nienke Beintema, and John Momoh
Year:
2017
Publisher
International Food Policy Research Institute and Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute
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Strong investment growth
Agricultural research spending grew by 70 percent during 2011–2014, sharply contrasting the modest growth during 2008–2011. This shift almost entirely resulted from a substantial increase in the number of researchers employed at SLARI, the country’s main agricultural research agency. Despite this overall upward trend, however, the country still invests a very low share of its AgGDP in agricultural research—0.24 percent in 2014, which is well below the recommended 1 percent target set by the African Union and the United Nations.
Diversification of funding
SLARI relies heavily on government funding as a share of its operating costs. Government contributions cover salaries, including benefits, but not the costs of operating research programs or maintaining infrastructure. Notably, only about 80 percent of the institute’s budgeted funding is actually disbursed, and the schedule of disbursement is often unpredictable, hindering planning and diminishing effectiveness. Donors such as CORAF/WECARD and several CGIAR centers, as well as WAAPP, fund research activities and any postgraduate training for researchers.
Researcher capacity constraints
SLARI has insufficient researchers across disciplines, including emerging areas such as irrigation, biotechnology, and climate change. Insufficient national agricultural programs exist, particularly at the MSc- and PhD-degree levels, largely because of a lack of qualified faculty to supervise students’ work. The majority of the institute’s researchers obtained their higher degrees abroad through donor-funded programs such as WAAPP, which in recent years has allowed 38 researchers to obtain MSc and PhD degrees in priority disciplines.
Stronger collaboration needed
SLARI collaborates with Njala University, which is the only national university currently offering agricultural degree programs. Some lecturers serve as research fellows at SLARI, but this form of collaboration is limited by a lack of capacity in certain disciplines. In addition, the university has inadequate capacity to meet the country’s need for agricultural scientists in advanced degrees. More extensive collaboration between SLARI and the higher education sector is needed in order to anticipate and meet future capacity needs.