Technical
background
document
© FAO, 1996
7.1 Agricultural research is conducted throughout the world by a diverse array of organizations and institutions. Each has developed special capabilities and has advantages in addressing different aspects of the constraints to sustainable agricultural production. These institutions have often worked through partnerships to capitalize on the advantages of their specialization. However, major changes in science, in farmers’ awareness and degree of collective organization, in the involvement of the private sector and in priorities within aid agencies have profoundly affected the face of international agricultural research in recent years and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Research organizations and institutions must now redefine their roles and responsibilities to adapt to reduced resources and to rapidly changing developments in agricultural research. These varied institutions are becoming more and more linked into an informal global agricultural research system.
7.2 Within this evolving system, each component will have to determine its comparative advantage, to find to its niche and to develop the necessary partnerships with other components to maximize synergies, to reduce overlap and redundancy and to respond appropriately to beneficiaries in a demand-driven system. This may occur as a deliberate process from within the institution or through management mechanisms as stakeholders and clients demand more efficient and effective technology generation and transfer. This section outlines the developing institutional structure for research and technology development in the global system and its role in improving food security and alleviating poverty.
7.3 The major components of the global agricultural research system are the national agricultural research systems (NARS) of developing and developed countries, including private and other non-governmental research establishments, and the international agricultural research centres (IARC). In 1995, developed country NARS accounted for about 48 percent of global research expenditures with one-third of scientists, while developing-country NARS accounted for about the same proportion of expenditures but with nearly two-thirds of scientists. The IARC accounted for the balance of about 4 percent of global research expenditures.
7.4 The NARS are, and will continue to be, the cornerstone of the global agricultural research system as they work to increase agricultural productivity and profitability in their own countries. NARS are made up of various national agricultural research institutes (NARI), agricultural universities, private-sector firms, NGOs and farmers’ organizations. Although some have long histories, many NARS in developing countries are composed of fairly young institutions and all have changed over the past few decades. Given the diverse nature of agro-ecological conditions and the location-specificity of small-farm production and natural-resource management problems, NARS of developing countries must play an even larger role in increasing food production and contributing to economic growth. They face a major challenge to be responsive to the needs of their clientele.
7.5 The NARS in developing countries vary greatly in numbers of researchers and funding resources available to them. The significantly increased number of well-trained scientists working in these NARS has been a very positive development of the past decades. Unfortunately many of these scientists are underfunded and thus much less productive than they could be. Yet, in all cases, the NARS have a key role to play in providing the critical link between the global research system and research users, particularly farmers.
7.6 Following a CGIAR meeting for political leaders in February 1995 in Lucerne, Switzerland, a number of multilateral organizations, concerned about the effectiveness of the NARS in developing countries, encouraged regional discussions of the future of agricultural research in the region in general and the role that the CGIAR system could play in particular. All regional meetings conducted in 1996 (for sub-Saharan Africa, the Near East and North Africa, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean) stressed the need to involve both the existing regional agricultural research organizations and their national constituencies more closely in the setting of the international agricultural research agenda. The regional meetings also suggested possible closer collaboration between NARS, and between NARS and the CGIAR system, to exploit more fully research synergies and to reach a higher level of resource-use efficiency.
7.7 Developing-country NARS have in the past been dominated by the public-sector NARI. These institutions suffer from the weaknesses common to public institutions, including lack of flexibility, susceptibility to political interference, lack of responsiveness to client demand, limitations on funding and lack of infrastructure. It is imperative that these institutional weaknesses be addressed; the global research system will not be effective without strong NARI. NARI can and should establish strong partnerships with universities and the private sector (within and outside the country). They also need to take more responsibility for generating technologies needed in their respective countries. They are well placed to carry out applied and adaptive research; to work with farming communities in identifying research needs for the future; to provide support to other institutions within the NARS; and to provide feedback and support to national development plans and policies.
7.8 NARI in general are faced with several challenges. They need a strong and effective extension mechanism to transfer their technology to users and to provide feedback to scientists and research administrators. NARI should provide better support to private-sector technology needs and rely to a greater extent on private input distributors for a more efficient transfer of results to farmers’ fields. In general NARI have completed a period of rapid growth, but must now consolidate programmes, improve management systems and focus on producing results.
7.9 In today’s global economy the competitiveness of a country’s agricultural sector is increasingly dependent on the quality and technical skills of its human resources in agricultural research, extension and agribusiness systems. Higher education facilitates technology development and transfer and improves a nation’s ability to absorb improved technologies from outside. Universities provide the technical training and develop future researchers. Yet agricultural education at the tertiary level has tended to be neglected in recent years as the attention of education professionals focused on the primary level.
7.10 Undoubtedly a strong primary education system is important for developing countries to address food-security and poverty issues. Primary education provides a good return on investment. But agricultural universities have a special role to play in addressing a society’s food-security needs because of their advantage in basic and adaptive research and integrating research, education and extension for efficient transfer of research results. Universities should strengthen their linkages with NARI as well as with the private sector. Universities can take an independent approach to research topics and, in some cases, challenge conventional wisdom. They need to coordinate their research agenda with NARI to increase their contribution to the growth of food production and to the sustainability of natural resources and the environment.
7.11 The importance of private-sector agricultural research in developing countries has grown in recent years but varies with the level of each country’s economic development, policy environment, patents and plant-breeder rights legislation and various market factors. Private-sector research in germplasm improvements for food and non-food crops has been significant. Private-sector involvement in natural-resource management research, however, has been very limited, constrained by high risk and non-exclusiveness of the research results (products cannot be restricted to those who pay). However, because of the funding problem facing public-sector research in developing countries, the private sector will have to play an increasingly important role in applied and adaptive research in the future. As economies are transformed and agriculture becomes more commercialized and dependent on purchased inputs, the scope for private-sector research will increase.
7.12 Numerous types of NGOs have proved effective in working at the farmer and community levels. These organizations serve as intermediaries between disadvantaged rural households and research, donor, financial and other organizations. Their flexibility, informality, social commitment and participatory style are especially suited to the complex task of rural development aimed at alleviating poverty, particularly in countries where special interests or political instability may render governments and bureaucracies unresponsive to the needs of the poor (Carroll, 1992). A few international NGOs have also become an important force in adaptive research and development at the global level, whereas local NGOs are becoming strong voices for rural people. In countries with severe political instability, NGOs may have a much stronger presence than other actors and are a valuable link in the research/technology-transfer continuum. They also have an increasingly important role in implementation of new technologies.
7.13 NGOs will continue to play an important part in the global agricultural research system, although they will be more a stakeholder than a research implementor. In an era of shrinking government budgets and capacities, NGOs may become more important in extending and adapting technologies for less-commercialized farmers. They will also serve as a voice for clients of the research system and for expressing environmental concerns that need to be addressed in the research agenda.
7.14 The long-term sustainability of agricultural research in developing countries will depend upon the extent of public support for it. To this end, NARS will need to increase the participation of farmers and their organizations in setting research priorities and in the transfer of research results to farmers’ fields. Commodity groups and farm organizations are potentially an important force in setting research priorities relevant to their needs. In Chile, Kenya, Senegal and some parts of India, for example, farmers have played an important role in articulating their demands on research systems and in directly or indirectly contributing funds for research. An analysis of such experiences in generating and sustaining farmers’ involvement would provide insights into the measures needed to replicate the situation in the same countries for different commodities, and in other countries and regions. The future research agenda must respond to farmers in setting priorities and appropriate institutional arrangements, to ensure that the voice of the farmers continues to be heard.
7.15 The NARS of developed countries have made significant contributions towards improving the welfare of the poor both in their own countries and in developing countries. They have an important role to play in the global research system and in the quest for global food security and environmental and resource sustainability. Even though their first priority is to seek solutions to the problems faced by agriculture in their own country, it is important to their own self-interest and to the productivity of the global research system that they continue to collaborate with other NARS and with international research centres. Developed countries and international organizations must recognize the value of agricultural research and continue to support and encourage basic and strategic research.
7.16 Many developed-country research organizations have strong capacity in basic and applied research. Universities and private industry have become increasingly important components of the research systems of industrialized countries, particularly in high-cost biotechnology research. It is clearly in the best interests of developing countries to find ways to mobilize such competencies to work on problems of agricultural development in poor countries.
7.17 Universities in developed countries have long had a significant role in fostering the emergence of the global research system not only through their research efforts but also through training agricultural researchers in science and technology. Universities in developed countries have expertise in applied research as well, with a long tradition of integrating research over the entire continuum from basic to adaptive. In some countries, they effectively integrate research with education and extension. And many have been an important source of training for many scientists from developing countries. They can provide substantial scientific stimuli to research, education and extension in developing countries through greater interaction with research organizations, including universities in developing countries. Many universities have recognized that, as the world progresses towards a truly global economy, it is in their interests to build global programmes and provide their students with a global perspective.
7.18 An opposing factor is that because of reduced public funding, universities in developed countries conduct more of their research under contract to private firms. This is typically accompanied by a reduction in their interest and expertise in tropical agriculture and, sometimes, by severe restrictions on the information they can exchange with researchers from different institutions. This is likely to slow the transfer of science and technology to developing-country NARS and reduce the attention given to larger global problems.
7.19 One of the most significant developments in agricultural research in recent years has been the increased role of the private sector in the developed and more advanced developing countries. Its role in biotechnology research and application on farmers’ fields has been very promising. The private sector, however, only conducts research on technologies and products (for example, pesticides or hybrid varieties which cannot be replicated by farmers) that can be protected through intellectual property rights (IPR). Strengthening the laws relating to IPR has encouraged investment by the private sector. Market reforms and more open policies to attract private investment have also encouraged the private sector to invest more in research and to develop technologies suitable for different agro-ecological markets. For example, in Mexico, with the opening of the seed market in the early 1990s the sale of hybrid maize seed by private companies more than doubled (Lopez-Pereira and Garcia, 1994)
7.20 The IARC of the CGIAR and other associated centres have particular advantages in strategic and applied research. Their regional or global mandates allow them to do research on problems of interest over broad areas (strategic research) and their locations (mostly in developing countries) give them the added advantage of being able to conduct research on site.
7.21 Because their research objectives transcend national and regional interests, IARC are uniquely positioned to conduct activities of an international public-goods nature. In addition, they are well placed to act as convenors of other partners in the global system, playing a valuable catalytic role in the establishment of new partnerships and new ways of operating. Given the relatively small investments in IARC, they must continue to focus their activities and set their priorities on those areas where they have a distinct advantage over national systems.
7.22 Since its establishment in 1971, the leadership role of the CGIAR in international research has grown. The CGIAR system consists of 16 IARC spread throughout the world. Although it accounts for only 4 percent of global agricultural research expenditures, its impact has been significant.
7.23 The initial emphasis of CGIAR research was on increasing the productivity of major food grains (wheat, maize and rice) to decrease food insecurity and poverty. The focus of the CGIAR was subsequently extended to include other food and non-food crops, livestock, fisheries, forestry, genetic resources and natural-resource management and environmental sustainability issues. This involved an expansion of emphasis beyond germplasm conservation and improvement. The CGIAR centres together house the largest collection of plant germplasm in existence.
7.24 The CGIAR centres have dual responsibilities. On the one hand, they need to produce high-quality research output in large quantities to solve problems and to provide credible leadership in the global research system. On the other hand, they need to help NARS to build their capacity through collaborative research and training of scientists and research managers. CGIAR centres have done a commendable job in fulfilling both responsibilities and need to continue these efforts into the future if solutions to the problems of food insecurity, poverty and resource and environmental degradation are to be pursued seriously.
7.25 The lack of sufficient economic incentives for private-sector research to develop technologies in developing countries, coupled with a decline in international involvement of developed-country universities and NARI, has increased the role of CGIAR research to support technology generation to meet the needs of developing countries. While the system has been involved in training scientists and research administrators from developing countries, it is clear that the CGIAR’s role in NARS capacity building can only be catalytic and achieved mainly through collaboration in conducting research programmes. Yet such collaboration has a crucial role in increasing food production and safeguarding natural resources and the environment through provision of advanced technologies for the poor whose needs are not met by the market.
7.26 Institutions comprising the global agricultural research system need to find new and innovative ways of working together in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of scarce financial resources. The emphasis of NARS should now be on developing new partnerships to capitalize on shared resources in regional arrangements; to access advanced research methodologies such as biotechnology from the private sector; and to improve the efficiency of research efforts in natural-resource management, which falls outside the scope of traditional agricultural research and has international implications. In short, partnerships need to be more numerous, diverse, innovative and substantive (Lele and Coffman, 1995).
7.27 At the same time, it must be recognized that partnerships, linkages and collaboration have their costs. These costs need to be minimized and roles defined so that attempts at collaboration do not reduce efficiency and place even greater strain on declining budgets.
7.28 The privatization of research and IPR points to a far larger role for the private sector. Strengthened partnerships are needed between private- and public-sector research institutions, particularly in developing countries that must keep pace with advances in new technologies and fully capture the benefits of their utilization. Such partnerships will speed up the commercialization of public research results and products, thereby reducing the time lag between the development and adoption of new technologies. No one yet knows exactly what form these partnerships will or should be taking, given the challenge of reconciling a range of different, sometimes apparently conflicting, objectives. In particular, private-sector entities are legitimately seeking higher profits for themselves, whereas the legitimacy of public research institutions rests on the pursuit of public goods and social benefits (e.g. poverty alleviation, conservation of natural resources, public education, etc.). Fortunately there are already many diverse examples of successful public-private partnerships in agricultural research. These examples provide hope that collaboration is indeed possible and can provide lessons on how such collaboration can be achieved.
7.29 While private research focuses on high-value crops and patentable technologies, international public-sector research continues to focus on technologies that are national or international public goods. The major challenges of food security, poverty alleviation and resource and environmental sustainability are not restricted to one country or one region of the world. In an increasingly interdependent world, there will be greater opportunities for bilateral and multilateral collaboration to address these national and regional problems. Such collaborations offer significant economies of scale and scope, greater accountability for both negative and positive externalities and greater opportunities to exploit recent advances in biotechnology, geographic information systems and communication technologies.
7.30 Finally, beneficiaries of technologies must be included as full partners in the system. A demand-driven system implies that the ultimate users of technologies have a strong voice in setting priorities, evaluating the technology and validating the results. The global research system should be at its full efficiency to feed a population that is not only growing in number but also consuming more higher quality and higher value products.
8.1 Investments in national and international agricultural research should increase in the future. There is a continuous need for new technologies and techniques to be developed to keep pace with the growing demand for food (crops, livestock, fish and forest products) without price increases or deteriorating natural resources and environment. Investments in agricultural research have been, and will continue to be, highly beneficial to society in solving problems of food insecurity and poverty. Research and technology generation are central to achieving the structural transformation of the agricultural sector. Agricultural and rural development in turn are crucial to the overall economic, social, political and cultural progress of humanity.
8.2 There is little doubt that the necessary increase in total resources devoted to agricultural research globally will not come about unless researchers and research institutions demonstrate that they can increase the productivity and effectiveness of the resources already devoted to agricultural research. Such improvements will require major institutional reforms, including:
8.3 The current development of regional organizations of NARS and their more active role on the international scene are positive signs. Such regional organizations have three main advantages. First, they enhance regional collaboration. They permit small NARS to take advantage of economies of scale and scope, and in the case of large NARS they can be a very useful instrument in overcoming the stifling bureaucratic constraints restricting them from focusing their efforts on specific development objectives. The second potential advantage of regional organizations is to help organize and coordinate the numerous initiatives of outside actors such as the IARC, the ARO and individual donors. The third advantage is to address issues and constraints that can only be effectively addressed through regional collaborative efforts, for example the management of natural resources that transcend national boundaries.
8.4 There is also scope for increasing the efficiency and impact of donor funding by improving and consolidating donor support to developing-country NARS. As partners in the system, donors must find ways to collaborate and support agricultural research with less overlap and inefficiency. Funding reform will require the investment of strong political capital and support. The development of national commitment at both the highest political and financial levels, and not simply at the levels of NARS directors and donors, is essential.
8.5 The role of agricultural research in achieving sustainable food security and contributing to agricultural development is clear: productivity must increase and must do so in an environmentally sustainable manner. Economic reforms including policy changes and trade liberalization will provide a favourable environment for future production increases. However, technology and management innovations are still needed to sustain and increase food production in both high- and low-potential areas, often where natural resources are already under considerable pressure. Science-based agricultural technology, developed through agricultural research, can accomplish these goals provided that:
8.6 Investments and institutional changes are needed first and foremost in NARS. This is true both for developed countries, which generally have a good record in this regard, and for developing countries, some of which have a dismal record in consistency of support to agricultural knowledge systems. No blanket funding recommendation is possible, but significantly increased financial support is needed in many countries. To improve food security in a sustainable manner, developing countries will often require an investment in their agricultural research system at a level of 1 percent of the value of agricultural output over the short term and 2 percent in the long term (Pinstrup-Andersen, 1995b).
8.7 Continued and increased donor support to national programmes is critical, although this might be conditional on adequate country commitment. Greater synergy among donors’ efforts is also critical. Financial support for the international agricultural research system must be strengthened to provide the support needed by developing-country NARS. Investments in CGIAR research should increase to facilitate its mission of promoting sustainable and efficient agriculture for food security, poverty alleviation and environmental protection.
8.8 Increased funding, while necessary, will not suffice. Investments and changes are also needed concurrently in relevant institutions at the regional, international and global levels. All partners at all levels must seek and develop new relationships and new modalities of collaboration, bringing modern science to bear on problems in poor countries especially. The beneficiaries of research technology must have a strong voice and must be part of the collaborative effort. Taken together, these changes will enable a rapid evolution of an existing, but often nascent, global agricultural research system.
8.9 For these changes to occur, political commitment at all levels is essential, in both developing and developed countries, for the support of agricultural research. The consequences of failure to transform and invest sufficiently in agricultural research will be greater food insecurity, especially among those with little or no purchasing power, a greater incidence of poverty and increased degradation of resources and the environment. A thriving agricultural sector is a necessary condition for economic growth, for providing food, income and employment to the poor and for improving resource conservation and environmental protection.
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