By Gert-Jan Stads, Senior Program Manager of Agricultural Science and Techonlogy Indicators (ASTI) at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Presented at the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Economic Research Service (USDA-ERS) West Asia and North Africa (WANA) Region Seminar.

1. Investment and capacity trends in
agricultural R&D: New evidence for
West Asia and North Africa
USDA-ERS seminar
Washington, DC | 18 May 2015
Gert-Jan Stads
Senior Program Manager
International Food Policy Research Institute
AgriculturalScienceandTechnologyIndicators

2. WhymonitoragriculturalR&Dresources?
 Challenges:
- Rapid population growth
- Climate change
- Degradation of land and water resources
- Food price volatility
 Agricultural R&D is a major contributor to productivity growth,
food security, and poverty reduction
 Quantitative data are essential for stakeholders to be able to
analyze trends in agricultural R&D capacity and investments;
identify gaps; set future investment priorities; and better
coordinate agricultural R&D across institutes, regions, and
commodities

3. WhatisASTI?
 Collects institutional, investment, human resource capacity, and
research output data from agricultural R&D agencies in
developing countries worldwide.
 Established in 2001; led by IFPRI. Builds on earlier data collection
activities (early 1980s onwards).
 Large network of national, regional, and international partners.
 ASTI’s objectives are to provide high-quality, up-to-date datasets
on agricultural R&D; to conduct ongoing analysis of its datasets;
to disseminate the results of its analysis to promote advocacy
and support policymaking; and to build national and regional
capacity for data collection and analysis.

4. ASTIMethodology
 ASTI data collected based on internationally accepted
definitions and statistical procedures for compiling S&T
statistics (OECD’s Frascati Manual)
 This facilitates comparisons of ASTI datasets with other
relevant S&T datasets
 FAO definition of agriculture: crops, livestock, forestry,
fisheries, natural resources, etc.
 ASTI provides:
 Trends over time at country / regional levels
 Comparisons within and across countries / regions

5. ASTI outputs
• Country factsheets
• Regional and global reports
• Downloadable datasets
• Analytical assessments
• Seminars and presentations
• Press releases/media outreach
• ASTI website (www.asti.cgiar.org)
ASTI indicators
• Institutional arrangements
• R&D spending by cost category
• Funding sources
• R&D staff by degree, gender, and age
• R&D focus by commodity and theme
• Output indicators
ASTIoutputs

6. ASTIcountrycoverage
BMGF (2008-2018):
SSA and South Asia
USDA-ERS (2013-2015):
WANA
IDB (2013-2015):
South America and Mexico
Canada (2013-2014):
Central America and Caribbean

7. WestAsiaandNorthAfrica:Methodology
 Surveyed more than 300 government, higher education,
nonprofit, and private-sector agencies in 11 WANA countries
 Collected quantitative and qualitative information for 2009-2012
 Human resource data were FTE-adjusted
 Financial data include salaries, operating, and capital costs
 Financial data are expressed in 2005 PPP dollars

8. PolicyContextofAgriculturalR&DinWANA
 Of the 11 countries included in ASTI analysis, 4 do not have
official national science, technology, and innovation policies
 In several of the countries that do, policies focus on innovation
at the macro level without offering sufficient guidelines or
incentives to individual sectors
 Agriculture-related priorities are not always satisfactorily
embedded within national S&T policies, with the result that
decisionmaking is fragmented and coordination among
relevant actors is lacking
 Most countries in the region lack policies to stimulate private
agricultural R&D and innovation
 Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, and Turkey have strongest policy
frameworks

9. AgriculturalR&Dremainsapublic-sectoraffair

10. Goodnews:RecentincreasesinR&Dcapacity
+26%
+61%
+26%
+1%
+8%
+26%
+7%
+16%
+1%
+17%
+30%
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000
Mauritania
Lebanon
Oman
Jordan
Yemen
Tunisia
Morocco
Algeria
Sudan
Turkey
Egypt
Full-time equivalent agricultural researchers
2012 2009

11. Moregoodnews:
RecentcapacityincreasemainlyatPhDandMSclevel
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
2009 2010 2011 2012
Full-timeequivalent
researchers
PhD MSc BSc
FTE researchers by degree
(11 countries combined), 2009-2012
Number of PhD-qualified researchers
(FTEs), 2012
16
62
93
97
137
151
222
335
344
1,252
5,692
Mauritania
Oman
Lebanon
Jordan
Algeria
Yemen
Morocco
Tunisia
Sudan
Turkey
Egypt
Full-time equivalent agricultural researchers

12. MAIN
CHALLENGE:
National agricultural R&D
institutes face difficulties
attracting (and retaining)
PhD-qualified scientists.
2012

13. CHALLENGE:
A very large share of PhD-
qualified researchers at national
agricultural R&D institutes will
be retiring in the coming
decade.
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
PhD
Total
PhD
Total
PhD
Total
PhD
Total
PhD
Total
PhD
Total
PhD
Total
PhD
Total
PhD
TotalINRAANCARELARIINRADGALRINRATGDARAREAARC
AlgeriaJordanLebanonMoroccoOmanTunisiaTurkeyYemenSudan
Share of researchers in age bracket
<31 31-40 41-50 51-60 >60
2012

14. CHALLENGE:
Women are underrepresented in agricultural R&D in
many WANA countries.

15. UnevengrowthinagriculturalR&Dinvestment
-21%
-43%
-5%
+57%
-28%
+13%
+19%
+19%
+3%
0%
+24%
0 100 200 300 400 500
Mauritania
Sudan
Jordan
Lebanon
Yemen
Tunisia
Algeria
Oman
Morocco
Turkey
Egypt
million PPP dollars; 2005 prices
2012 2009

16. Widespreadunderinvestmentprevails
0.19
0.21
0.44
0.49
0.51
0.56
0.64
0.80
0.95
1.84
6.51
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Sudan
Algeria
Egypt
Morocco
Turkey
Yemen
Tunisia
Mauritania
Lebanon
Jordan
Oman
Agricultural R&D spending as a
percentage of AgGDP (%)
Caution when
analyzing
research intensity
ratios!
2012

17. SalariesaccountforbulkofR&Dspending
Spending by cost category for main agricultural
R&D agencies, 2009-2012

18. LimiteddiversificationofagriculturalR&Dfunding
Relative shares of research funding for main
agricultural R&D agencies, 2009-2012

19. PolicyImplications
 Governments must address underinvestment in agricultural
R&D and take the necessary policy steps to diversify funding
sources
 Governments must invest in training and capacity building and
remove status and salary discrepancies between government-
and university-based researchers
 Governments must develop long-term national agricultural
research policy agendas and provide stronger institutional,
financial, and infrastructural support to NARIs
 Governments must strengthen research linkages at the
regional and international level

20. WANAoutputs
www.asti.cgiar.org/wana

21. Thank you
www.asti.cgiar.org