CÔTE D’IVOIRE
• Agricultural R&D expenditures fell around 2000 but remained relatively stable during 2002–08. Civil war and sociopolitical turmoil have negatively impacted R&D investments in many regions of the country.
• The National Center for Agricultural Research (CNRA), the main R&D agency, accounts for two-thirds of the country’s research capacity and over three-quarters of its agricultural R&D investments.
• Unlike elsewhere in the region, the government and donors play a minimal role in financing agricultural R&D. CNRA is mainly funded by the private sector.
• From 2000–08, average qualification levels of agricultural researchers improved.
ERITREA
• Public spending on agricultural R&D decreased by more than 80 percent from 1998–2008, following severe cuts in donor funding.
• The number of research staff nearly tripled from 1998-2008, and the share of female researchers increased from 3 percent in 2000 to 31 percent in 2008.
• Eritrea’s agricultural researchers are among the least qualified in Africa. In 2008, only one-third of researchers held postgraduate degrees.
• The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) accounted for more than 60 percent of agricultural research capacity and spending in 2008.
ETHIOPIA
• Total public spending on agricultural R&D increased significantly after 2000, peaking in 2001–02.
• By 2008, expenditures at the country’s main agricultural research agency, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), had returned to 2000 levels.
• The number of research staff at the regional agricultural research institutes and at the country’s universities grew significantly after 2000.
• Ethiopia’s agricultural researchers are among the least qualified in Africa in terms of postgraduate degrees, and female participation is also comparatively low.
GABON
• Gabon employs an increasing number of agricultural researchers, but the resources needed to carry out research responsibilities are extremely low and erratic.
• Gabon, one of the most developed countries in Africa, is one of the world’s least developed nations in terms of agricultural R&D, having one of the lowest ratios of spending as a percentage of agricultural GDP.
• Gabon’s agricultural research is largely financed by the government, which frequently decrease its annual allocations to R&D during the budgetary year.
• Although the country has established agricultural research agencies and facilities, they lack staffing, equipment, programs, and funding.
• The government needs to quickly and considerably increase its funding for R&D in order to strengthen the agricultural sector and enable it to play a leading role in the country’s food security.
THE GAMBIA
• Levels of agricultural R&D investment were erratic during 2000–08, largely due to fluctuations in funding from the government, donors, and development banks. R&D spending has gradually fallen since 2006.
• The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) accounted for two-thirds of public agricultural researchers and close to three-quarters of R&D expenditures in 2008.
• When a World Bank loan–funded project ended in 1999, NARI’s investments suddenly declined, but Bank funding is expected to soon increase with the launch of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program.
• Agricultural R&D capacity has declined somewhat since 2000 and researchers are among the least qualified in West Africa. In 2008, NARI employed two PhD-level scientists and other R&D agencies employed none. Training of young scientists to the PhD level needs to be a top priority.
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