Authors:
Nienke Beintema, Rhoda Mumba, Moses Mwala, and Lang Gao
Year:
2016
Publisher
International Food Policy Research Institute and Zambia Agriculture Research Institute
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Donor-led investment growth
Despite decreasing government funding, agricultural research spending in Zambia grew by 70 percent during 2008–2014 as a result of a large influx of funding through a World Bank loan, associated with APPSA, and additional donor contributions. Despite this strong growth, as of 2014 Zambia only invested 0.51 percent of its AgGDP in agricultural research, half the 1 percent minimum recommended by the African Union and the United Nations.
Donor dependency at ZARI
Government support to ZARI mostly covers the cost of salaries and day-today operations. ZARI has successfully secured funding through regional competitive research programs and donor grants. It has received a World Bank loan of US$30 million through APPSA, which targets research on legumes, maize, rice, and sorghum. Still the government will need to raise its financial support if the country’s agricultural research system is to avoid a severe decline at the conclusion of APPSA.
Training the next generation
In 2014, only 14 percent of Zambia’s agricultural researchers were trained to the PhD level. The provision of local postgraduate training remains limited, so most MSc and PhD training is undertaken abroad. APPSA has included a significant training compenent (15 PhD, 40 MSc, and 40 BSc degrees), although the areas of focus are limited to legumes and, hence, do not necessarily address the disciplines in which ZARI has gaps.
Limited private sector involvement
In the late 1990s, the government and foreign donors focused on increasing the role of privately performed agricultural research. Two nonprofit organizations were established, GART and CDT. In particular, GART—which focuses on crop and livestock technologies to improve smallholder productivity— increased its capacity to 15 FTE researchers in 2008. Funding and capacity have dwindled since then, because most of the donor-funded projects were completed. As of 2014, the four nonprofit and for-profit agencies involved in agricultural research employed a total of 16 FTE researchers.