From Africa Recovery, Vol.11#2 (October 1997), page 18 (part of special feature on Agriculture in Africa)

Strengthening and 'Africanizing' agricultural research

Among the top priorities for economic development in Africa is "the transformation of African agriculture through research and technology transfer," says Professor Maurice Onanga, Chairman of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), established in February 1997 by Africa's main subregional agricultural research institutes. But breakthroughs in agricultural research are lagging far behind the continent's need to ensure increased production and food security. According to estimates by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, public investment in agricultural research and extension services in sub-Saharan Africa has generally been less than 1 per cent of agricultural GDP, compared with more than 2 per cent in the faster-growing Asian countries, where "green revolution" innovations did much to boost average farm output.

Beyond resources, another problem facing research in Africa is developing new seed varieties and technologies adapted to very specific local conditions, which are more difficult and highly varied than in Asia. This requires not only strengthening national research institutions, but also increasing the direct involvement of farmers' organizations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and other users of new agricultural technologies.

Promoting increased funding and more appropriate research have been key goals of the Special Programme for African Agricultural Research (SPAAR), a coalition of donor institutions and research organizations based at World Bank headquarters in Washington. Although SPAAR has been seeking to increase African participation since 1995, and its February 1997 plenary session in Mali for the first time included a sizeable number of farmers, Prof. Onanga noted that "there is still a perception that [SPAAR] is a coalition of stakeholders largely dominated by donors."

FARA was launched during the plenary to enhance the leadership role of African agricultural research institutes, both in setting their own research agendas and in coordinating their approaches to donor institutions. Mr. Jean-Louis Sarbib, World Bank Vice-President for Western and Central Africa and the current Chairman of SPAAR, supported this initiative. FARA's establishment, he said, was "a major step forward in the effort to regionalize African agricultural research and to ensure that the responsibility for setting the research agenda would be in African hands."

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