This presentation was delivered by Gert-Jan Stads, Senior Program Manager for ASTI in Durban as part of the 10th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting

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

3. Good news: public spending and capacity increased
0
3,000
6,000
9,000
12,000
15,000
18,000
0
300
600
900
1,200
1,500
1,800
1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011
TotalnumberofFTEresearchers
Million2005PPPdollars
Spending
Researchers
2000 2011 Increase
Spending
(million PPP$)
1,208 1,692 +40%
Researchers
(FTEs)
9,470 14,230 +50%

4. 2
9
21
27
41
43
45
63
66
82
89
98
104
112
115
117
123
124
131
132
134
151
156
162
177
180
193
218
233
274
307
314
354
424
607
746
815
939
1151
1877
2688
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
Seychelles
Guinea-Bissau
CapeVerde
Swaziland
Lesotho
Gabon
Liberia
Mauritania
Gambia,The
SierraLeone
Namibia
Niger
Congo,Rep.
Senegal
Togo
Eritrea
Chad
Botswana
Coted'Ivoire
Burundi
CentralAfrican…
Mauritius
Benin
Malawi
Zimbabwe
Rwanda
Madagascar
BurkinaFaso
Zambia
Guinea
Mali
Mozambique
Uganda
Congo,Dem.Rep.
Ghana
SouthAfrica
Tanzania
Sudan
Kenya
Ethiopia
Nigeria
TotalFTEresearchers
Big NARS, small NARS
2011 (40-country sample)
< 100 FTEs: 12 countries > 500 FTEs: 7 countries

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(%)

7. 0.2
0.3
0.7
1.2
1.8
2.1
2.7
4.3
4.7
4.8
5.1
5.5
5.7
5.7
6.6
7.6
7.7
8.4
8.9
9.6
13.0
16.2
17.5
20.7
24.8
25.4
26.0
26.2
27.2
33.6
34.3
35.9
37.8
43.1
68.1
69.6
81.4
106.8
188.1
237.2
393.9
0
100
200
300
400
Guinea-Bissau
Seychelles
Gabon
Eritrea
Lesotho
CapeVerde
CentralAfrican…
Guinea
Swaziland
Liberia
Congo,Rep.
Gambia,The
SierraLeone
Zimbabwe
Niger
Togo
Madagascar
Burundi
Mauritania
Zambia
Chad
Congo,Dem.Rep.
Botswana
Mozambique
Senegal
BurkinaFaso
Mauritius
Benin
Rwanda
Mali
Malawi
Sudan
Coted'Ivoire
Namibia
Ghana
Ethiopia
Tanzania
Uganda
Kenya
SouthAfrica
Nigeria
Million2005PPPdollars
A few big spenders, many small ones
2011 (40-country sample)
< 10 million PPP $: 20 countries > 100 million PPP $: 4 countries

8. 0
1
2
3
4
5
Guinea-Bissau
Gabon
CAR
Congo,DR
Niger
Madagascar
Guinea
SierraLeone
Ethiopia
Sudan
Zambia
Eritrea
Nigeria
Mozambique
BurkinaFaso
Togo
Liberia
Côted'Ivoire
Tanzania
Burundi
Mali
Benin
Lesotho
Rwanda
Ghana
Mauritania
Senegal
Chad
Congo,Rep.
Gambia,The
Malawi
CapeVerde
Kenya
Uganda
Swaziland
SouthAfrica
Botswana
Namibia
Mauritius
Average
Share(%)
Most countries fail to meet investment targets
Target (UN/NEPAD): Allocation of at least 1% of GDP to R&D
• On average, 0.51% of AgGDP in SSA was spent on public
agricultural R&D in 2011
• SSA’s intensity ratio has declined since 2008 due to relatively
stronger growth in AgGDP than in agricultural R&D spending
• Caution when analyzing intensity ratios!
2011

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

13. Thank you