Agricultural Research in Africa


Book Description

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.




Annual report 2021: CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)


Book Description

PIM had a productive final year centered on synthesizing findings while continuing to respond to demand on the impacts of COVID-19 and preparing the transition to the new CGIAR portfolio. PIM findings and engagement contributed to Myanmar’s response to COVID-19, South Africa’s policies on resilience to climate change, Tunisia's policies for pastoral development, a reform of Nigeria’s national agricultural research system, Ghana’s fish seed and farm certification system, gender strategies for three agricultural value chains in Honduras, and genome editing guidelines for the agricultural sector in four African countries. PIM research informed policy documents of FAO, IFAD, One CGIAR, the UK Government, the World Bank and the World Food Programme. PIM tools enabled more equitable co-management of 76 protected areas in Peru and informed World Bank social protection projects. Books on food security in Bangladesh and Malawi, trade in Latin America, African agricultural value chains and gender were published. 42 PIM synthesis briefs and notes were issued, summarizing research results in key thematic areas. PIM contributed 181 journal articles, 8 journal issues (on demand driven seed systems, China’s response to COVID-19, agriculture and food security in China under COVID-19, food loss and waste, landscape restoration, multistakeholder fora in forestry and two issues on gender), 15 book chapters and about 500 non-peer-reviewed outputs. 16 PIM webinars were organized. PIM’s contributions to the United Nations Food Systems Summit covered agricultural extension, food system innovations and digital technologies, the future of small farms, the science-policy interface, the cost of ending hunger by 2030, food waste and loss, management of the commons and gender. Building on past PIM investments in economywide modeling tools and social accounting matrices, PIM teams continued to assess the impacts of COVID-19 and policy responses at country level. Lessons learned from PIM country-level analyses on COVID-19’s impacts on food systems, poverty and diets are summarized in a chapter of the IFPRI 2022 book “COVID19 and global food security: Two years later”. A paper in partnership with the CGIAR COVID19 Hub reviewed the literature on agri-food value chains for evidence of fractures and resilience in response to the pandemic. The results of coordinated studies on the impacts of COVID-19 on value chains in different countries were published. Several cross-CGIAR outputs initiated by PIM speak to the fulfillment of PIM’s convening role as an integrating program: the CGIAR Foresight Report and CGIAR foresight website; several outputs produced through the CGIAR Community of Excellence on Seed Systems Development, and the CGIAR book “Advancing gender equality through agricultural and environmental research: Past, present, and future” are examples. Other examples of PIM global public goods produced in 2021 are 27 innovations at various stages of uptake, a cross-cutting effort to distill PIM lessons on migration; new or updated social accounting matrices for 25 countries; and lessons and tools on stakeholder platforms for natural resource governance. Independent reviews assessed the effectiveness of PIM’s partnerships and the use by partners of PIM’s work on economywide modelling, agricultural insurance, tenure and governance, and the Ag-Incentives database.




Future Challenges for National Agricultural Research: a Policy Dialogue


Book Description

Opening address; Welcome address; Challenges and opportunities for the NARS in the Year 2000 and Beyond: a policy dialogue; Chellenges facing agriculture in the next century: issues for national agricultural research systems; The role of research in the global agricultural development challenge: an international perspective; NARS trends and the structure support; ISNAR and the needs of NARS; The long-term vision of the CGIAR; The role of research networks and regional cooperative programs in the context of the 1990's.




Strengthening National Agricultural Research Systems


Book Description

This report provides a brief review of recent trends and key policies in strengthening national agricultural research systems. Chapters provide a brief overview of the recent evolution of national research systems and a synthesis of policy issues and good practices for developing these systems including the involvement of universities and the private sector. They also focus on key policy and institutional reforms for strengthening public research institutions including funding, research management, and client orientation. Finally they discuss implications for the World Bank in its ongoing efforts to strengthen national research systems.













Opportunities, use, and transfer of systems research methods in agriculture to developing countries


Book Description

In December 1993, ISNAR, in collaboration with International Consortium for Application of Systems Approaches, organized a three-day workshop on systems approaches and modelling for agricultural development. Sponsored by the Dutch Ministry for Development Cooperation, the workshop was attended by participants from 12 national agricultural research systems (NARS), nine international agricul tural research centers (lARCs), and five advanced research organizations (AROs). Although application of systems approaches in agricultural research and resource management is a rather new field, there is already increasing demand for implemen tation of these approaches. This will require a critical mass of specialists in the NARS and IARCs. Before this critical mass can be obtained, however, the experience that has been gained in this area needs to be evaluated, further possibilities need to be explored, and new objectives and targets need to be set. This book, which contains the papers presented at the workshop, assesses the state of the art of systems approaches in agricultural research, resource management, and rural planning. It also gives an impression of the evolution of this interdisciplinary field and its use in national and international research centers. Another, less tangible, outcome of the workshop was its contribution toward strengthening the network of NARS, lARCs, and AROs. It gave participants and organizers a chance to develop contacts, and provided an opportunity to make the first proposals for collaborative programs. Special thanks are due to Peter Goldsworthy and Luc Boerboom for their crucial role in making the workshop a success in this regard.