Agricultural research in Africa: Investing in future harvests

This book—prepared by Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI), which is led by IFPRI—offers a comprehensive perspective on the evolution, current status, and future goals of agricultural research and development in Africa, including analyses of the complex underlying issues and challenges involved, as well as insights into how they might be overcome. Agriculture in Africa south of the Sahara is at a prospective tipping point. Growth has accelerated in the past decade, but is unsustainable given increasing use of finite resources. The yield gap in African agriculture is significant, and scenarios on feeding the world’s population into the future highlight the need for Africa to expand its agricultural production. Agricultural Research in Africa: Investing in Future Harvests discusses the need to shift to a growth path based on increased productivity—as in the rest of the developing world— which is essential if Africa is to increase rural incomes and compete in both domestic and international markets. Such a shift ultimately requires building on evolving improvements that collectively translate to deepening rural innovation capacity.

Chapter 1 Agricultural Growth and Productivity in Africa: Recent Trends and Future Outlook Chapter 2 The Evolution of Agricultural Research in Africa: Key Trends and Institutional Developments Chapter 3 Economies of Size in National Agricultural Research Systems Chapter 4 Investment in Agricultural Research and Development: An Account of Two-Speed Growth, Underinvestment, and Volatility Chapter 5 Why Do African Countries Underinvest in Agricultural R&D? Chapter 6 Changing Donor Trends in Assistance to Agricultural Research and Development in Africa South of the Sahara Chapter 7 Private-Sector Investment in African Agricultural Research Chapter 8 Ensuring Human Resource Capacity to Secure Agricultural Transformation Chapter 9 African Faculties of Agriculture within an Expanding University Sector Chapter 10 Network Innovations: Building the Next Generation of Agricultural Scientists in Africa Chapter 11 The Role of Impact Assessment in Evaluating Agricultural R&D Chapter 12 Monitoring and Evaluation to Strengthen the Performance of Agricultural R&D Chapter 13 Integrating Agricultural Research into an African Innovation System Chapter 14 Crossborder Collaboration in African Agricultural Research: The Political Economy of Technology Spillovers Chapter 15 The Role of CGIAR in Agricultural Research for Development in Africa South of the Sahara Chapter 16 Unlocking Africa’s Agricultural Potential

PR

IFPRI1; CRP2; ASTI

EPTD; WCAO; PIM

CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)