1. Theme 2: Human Resource Developments in
African Agricultural R&D
Nienke Beintema
ASTI program | International Food Policy Research Institute
IAAE Symposium on Improving Returns to Agricultural
Research in Sub-Saharan Africa
Foz do Iguaçu | 20 August 2012

2. Outline presentation
• Short overview of human resource capacity
challenges in African agricultural R&D
• Training the next generation of African
agricultural researchers: New developments
• Options for moving forward

3. Growth in Africa’s agricultural researcher pool
• Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya accounted for most
of the growth during 2000-08
15
(tousand full-time equivalents)
SSA Agricultural researchers
12
9
6
3
0
1971
1979
1983
1987
1991
1995
1999
2003
1975
2007
Source: Beintema and Stads 2011

4. Capacity challenge: Fragmentation
• Many African countries remain to have small capacity
pools, but overall size has grown
31
Number of countries
21
10
0
1971 1981 1991 2008
Number of FTE researchers
< 25 25-99 100-499 500-999 > 1000
Source: Beintema and Rahija 2011

5. Capacity challenge: Decreasing qualifications
• Shares of BSc-qualified staff have increased in some
countries since 2000
100
Shares of FTE researchers (%)
29% 30%
80
60
47% 43%
40
20
24% 27%
0
2001 2008
BSc MSc PhD
Source: Beintema and Stads 2011

6. Capacity challenge: High staff turnover
• Staff departures and an aging pool of well-qualified
researchers remain major areas of concern for many
countries
100
Average age of researchers, 2010
Shares of departed researchers (%)
80 Degree
NARI BSc MSc PhD Total
60
ARC, South Africa 39.9 40.8 48.5 43.4
40
ISRA, Senegal — 55.7 47.3 49.6
KARI, Kenya 41.6 45.1 49.5 45.1
20 ZARI, Zambia 36.4 42.0 50.0 39.7
0
ISRA Senegal KARI Kenya ZARI Zambia
Retirement Death
Resignation Transfer/leave
Source: Sene et al 2011

7. Capacity challenge: Limited training opportunities
• During 1970s and 1980s, many countries received
considerable donor support for staff training abroad but
by the late 1990s, many donors had cut/eliminated
funding for training
• SSA universities have been facing a number of constraints
such as increased workloads, which has affected quality
of teaching and student supervision
• Large influx of young less-qualified researchers combined
with staff turnover has strained the capacity of
institutions to provide adequate mentoring by senior
researchers

8. But there are some positive developments
• Growth in private universities has created new training
opportunities
• Changes in governance have facilitated greater autonomy
for universities and allowed tuition fees to be adjusted
• Students have pressured universities to improve the
quality of the training provided
• Donor organizations have acknowledged the importance
of capacity strengthening and increased funding
• A wide number of successful regional initiatives and
platforms have been established

9. A quiet revolution in capacity strengthening
• Growth in private universities has created new training
opportunities
• Changes in governance have facilitated greater autonomy
for universities and allowed tuition fees to be adjusted
• Students have pressured to improve the quality of the
training provided
• Donor organizations have acknowledged the importance
of capacity strengthening
• A wide number of successful regional initiatives and
platforms have been established

10. Ways of Moving Forward (1)
• Halt the prevailing high turnover of agricultural
scientists through a series of measures
• Increase civil servant retirement age, improve remuneration
packages, enhance working conditions, increase training
opportunities
• Develop innovative training methods
• Focus on MSc & PhD training, improve quality, enhance
relevance to African smallholder agriculture, train the trainers,
promote soft skills, foster entrepreneurial ability

11. Ways of Moving Forward (2)
• Strengthen institutional capacity to create an enabling
environment
• Indentify best approaches to systematic organizational change
and institution building among agricultural R&D agencies
• Scale up existing successful networks and partnerships
• Increase financial support by governments and donor
organizations

12. THANK YOU