NIGERIA
• Nigeria has the largest agricultural R&D system in Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of investment and number of researchers, but agricultural R&D spending as a share of agricultural GDP remains low (0.4 percent) compared with a number of African countries.
• Following years of serious underinvestment, R&D doubled from 2000–08, due largely to rising salaries and substantial investments to rehabilitate infrastructure and equipment, but lack of adequate facilities and equipment remains a major constraint.
• Capacity grew significantly from 2000-08, but average qualification levels seriously declined. This shift from senior, well-qualified scientists toward more junior researchers is a disconcerting trend.
• The higher education sector is playing an increasingly important role in agricultural R&D, but the role of nonprofit and for-profit companies remains very small.
• Agricultural R&D is primarily funded by the national government, supplemented by donors and internally generated revenue from the sale of goods and services.
RWANDA
• Agricultural R&D capacity has grown slightly since 2005 in terms of numbers of researchers. As a result of the civil war in the 1990s, staff is younger and less well-qualified relative to other countries in the region.
• The Rwanda Agriculture Research Institute (ISAR) accounts for three-fourths of national agricultural research investments and human resource capacity. Expenditures at ISAR have remained relatively steady from 2005-09.
• Nonprofit and for-profit private companies have minimal involvement in agricultural R&D and the country remains highly dependent on volatile donor funding.
SENEGAL
• Public agricultural R&D expenditures in Senegal have fallen gradually due to reduced donor support and cuts in government funding.
• The higher education sector is playing an increasingly important role in agricultural R&D.
• The National Agricultural and Agro-Processing Research Fund has transformed funding. All public and private agricultural R&D agencies now compete equally, prompting demand-driven research and the rationalization of operations.
• The number of PhD-level staff substantially declined since 2004 despite large investments in research capacity. Many more well-qualified researchers will retire in the next decade, a cause for major concern.
• Despite the erosion of human resource capacity, the country’s agricultural researchers are among some of the more highly qualified staff in West Africa.
SIERRA LEONE
• Agricultural R&D expenditures more than doubled from 2001-09 following the end of a decade of civil war, which almost completely destroyed Sierra Leone’s research infrastructure.
• Despite this increase, funding levels are still low and irregular, making rehabilitation of agricultural R&D infrastructure and research capacity difficult.
• The government funds the vast majority of R&D, although donor support through grants and loans has been increasing since 2007, when the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) was established.
• SLARI, the primary agricultural research institute, is expected to operate eight research centers focusing on various commodities and research themes. As of 2009, only two of the centers were operating.
• Agricultural R&D capacity is expected to increase in the coming years as more SLARI research centers open. Training research staff will be a key challenge, however.
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