1. The current state of agricultural R&D investment
and capacity: A valuable benchmark to gauge
future S3A progress
Gert-Jan Stads and Nienke Beintema
International Food Policy Research Institute
Presentation at the Science Agenda parallel session at the 10th CAADP PP
Durban | March 19, 2014
2. S3A Context
• “S3A is based on the belief that science is too important to
be continually outsourced to international investors”
• “African countries must make domestic investments in
science for agriculture”
• “Every country requires a basic science capacity as an
essential part of an agricultural led social and economic
transformation”
Knowledge on the current status of agricultural R&D
investment and capacity is needed to monitor S3A
progress in the future
5. Increase in researcher quantity, not quality
• Recent capacity growth mostly driven by increasing
numbers of MSc and BSc researchers
• 10 out of 24 countries reported declines in the absolute
number of PhD holders during 2008–2011
26-country sample
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
TotalFTEresearchers
PhD MSc BSc
MSc holders
PhD holders
BSc holders
6. PhDs approaching retirement age in many countries
• In 17 of 36 countries, more than half the PhD holders are older
than 50; problem more pronounced in West Africa
• In contrast, growing numbers of young scientists elsewhere
• Urgent need to recruit and train next generation of scientists
2011 (36-country sample)
0
20
40
60
80
100
CapeVerde(19)
GuineaBissau(0)
Burundi(24)
Mauritania(16)
Mozambique(26)
Rwanda(22)
Zimbabwe(22)
BurkinaFaso(105)
Malawi(32)
Gabon(9)
Senegal(79)
Ethiopia(170)
Uganda(110)
Mauritius(21)
Botswana(24)
Gambia(6)
Sudan(330)
Tanzania(164)
CAR(2)
Nigeria-NARIs(287)
Kenya(368)
Chad(21)
Benin(84)
Ghana(228)
Namibia(12)
CongoDR(56)
Madagascar(78)
Togo(36)
Liberia(5)
CongoRep(33)
SierraLeone(14)
Eritrea(13)
Swaziland(12)
Lesotho(4)
Mali(100)
Guinea(42)
ShareofPHDholders(%)
9. Spending growth: not everywhere and not fast enough
Target (UN expert group): 5% annual spending growth over
the next decade
• 2000–2011 marked by spending decline or stagnation in
about half of the 30 countries with time series data
• Since 2008, however, more and more countries have
experienced positive growth.
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
Eritrea
Guinea
Gabon
Togo
Zambia
Gambia,The
SouthAfrica
BurkinaFaso
Côted'Ivoire
Madagascar
Ethiopia
Mauritius
Mali
Senegal
Botswana
Mauritania
Malawi
Namibia
Kenya
Sudan
Ghana
Nigeria
Burundi
Benin
Congo,Rep.
Uganda
Tanzania
Average
Annualgrowthrate(%)
Main drivers of region-wide
growth in spending, 2000–2011
+2.7%
10. Governments fund salaries, donors the rest
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Ghana
Ethiopia
Tanzania
Uganda
Mali
Burkina Faso
Salaries
Operating and program costs
Capital investments
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Ghana
Ethiopia
Tanzania
Uganda
Mali
Burkina Faso
Government
Donors and development banks
Commodity levies
Own resources
Other
Cost categories Funding sources
2011
11. Donors are a major source of funding volatility
• Annual agricultural R&D
spending in SSA has been
considerably more volatile than
in other developing regions
• Donor/development bank
funding is generally short-term
and ad-hoc (and 3 times more
volatile than government
funding)
• Therefore, volatility is more
pronounced in donor-dependent
low-income countries
Tanzania
Burkina Faso
0
20
40
60
80
100
1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010
0
10
20
30
40
1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011
12. Concluding remarks
• Encouraging signs that many African countries are
moving in the right direction (albeit slowly):
– Increasing government and donor funding
– Recruitment bans being lifted; improved salaries and
benefit packages; retirement age increases
– Importance of agricultural R&D is increasingly recognized
(S3A, CAADP, G8, G20, UN post-2015 Development
Agenda, WAAPP/EAAPP)
• Nonetheless, much more is needed to tackle the
various challenges facing African agricultural R&D
• ASTI indicators provide a valuable benchmark for
monitoring future S3A progress