1. Agricultural Research, Extension
and Education in Africa
Stocktaking and Future Challenges
Accra (July, 2013)

2. 2003
2
 NARIs – working largely independently, funding eroding
 T&V prevalent – 100K extensionists around Africa
 Ag universities struggling
 SROs – ASARECA and CORAF small but growing, SACCAR gone
 SPAAR becoming FARA – FARA not yet Pillar lead agency
 CGIAR strong but very independent actor
 Fragmented external support - projects
 Idea of CAADP emerging – but not yet clear what to do

3. 2008
3
 NARIs stagnation continues
 T&V in decline – nothing to replace it at scale, many interesting
boutique approaches
 Ag universities struggling - Tsunami of students, continued decline
 Fragmented support from partners - projects
 CGIAR strong but very independent actor
 CAADP process starting in earnest
 FAAP developed
 country level processes launched
 FARA and SROs emerging as strong players

4. FAAP advocates:
 Use of agreed design principles for research, extension, and
education – reform where needed
 Scale up of investment in research, extension and education –
particularly at regional/continental level
 Alignment with CGIAR and take better advantage of its
resources
 Harmonization of external support
 Human Capital approach – this leads to profitability, capital
accumulation at farm level, and transfer and adoption (so not
T&V)
 integration of University and Research Effort
 African institutions to lead this

5. FAAP’s recommendations
 Extension - human capital approach – build capacities of farmers to
be good critical thinkers, profitable, able to access information and
funding and build capital stock, better able to use purchased inputs
 Decentralization
 Farmer control
 Pluralism
 Research – alignment with priorities, closer alignment with
universities, strategic use of regional resources, coordination of effort
 Education – scale-up, reform, responsiveness to sectoral
priorities, regional approaches, stronger links to research programs -
less fragmentation of support
 Build on CAADP IPs

6. Selected
Accomplishments of
FARA and SRO MDTFs
Scale-up of Programs
Coherence - Comprehensive Strategic Plans and
MTOPs
Core Budget – roughly one third to one half of
total
Administrative Capacity – established
Leadership role – established (but only partially
realized)

7. 2013 – Foundations for
Transformation in Place
 Conceptual directions widely agreed
 Principles and Paradigms agreed (FAAP – and Pillar 4 Strategy, Science
Agenda)
 Roles at each level agreed
 Research priority studies for all sub-regions
 Supra-national Institutions in place to lead, support reform, coordinate
investment
 On Research – SROs and FARA scaled up and administratively capable
 On Extension – AFAAS solidly launched
 On Education – TEAM Africa solidly launched
 Relationship w/ CGIAR strengthening (Dublin Process)
 CAADP processes and IPs at Country and Regional Levels
 Harmonization of support at Continental and Regional levels

8. Scale of programs at supra-
national levels
 Regional Ag Research Institutions
 ASARECA (US$93 Million)
 CORAF (US$120 Million)
 CCARDESA (US$50 Million)
 FARA (US$108 Million)
 Regional Centers of Excellence in Ag Research
 West Africa (US$500 Million)
 East Africa (US$120 Million)
 Southern Africa (US$90 Million)
 AFAAS (US$17 Million)
 Tertiary Agricultural Education
 TEAM Africa (US$8 Million)
 Regional Projects (US$150 Million)
 MDTF Investment Fund (? Million)

9. External support at supra-
national levels:
DPs launched – WB followed
2006 –
from a group of DPs - $ 25 M / year
from WB - $ 0 M / year
2013 –
from a group of DPs - $ 70 M / year
from WB - $ 180 M / year

10. While Foundations for
Progress are in place …..
….. Transformative progress not yet
achieved

11. Africa - Labor & Land Productivity Low
10
100
1,000
10,000
100 1,000 10,000 100,000
Agricultural output per worker (log scale)
Agriculturaloutputperhectareofland(logscale)
Australia &
New Zealand
N America
W Europe
Japan &
S Korea
Former USSR
W Asia &
N Africa
Latin
America
Sub-Saharan
Africa
ChinaS Asia
South Africa
E Europe
SE Asia
1000 ha/worker
100 ha/worker
10 ha/worker
1 ha/worker0.1 ha/worker
Source: Fuglie, 2011

12. African Agriculture –
Sources of Growth
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1.80
2.00
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Growthindex(base:1971-73=1)
Output
Inputs
TFP

13. Growth has been driven by
more land, labor, (and small farms) …..
.…. not by productivity
Little change (or decline) in
Human Capital
Purchased variable inputs
Non-land Physical capital

14. Human capital on farms very low
14
Source: World Bank SHIP files, 2012

15. Capital per farm -
low and falling

16. FAAP approaches can help
 Reformed extension – raise human capital at farm level (which will
lead to capital accumulation as well) – also (but not only)
technology transfer – greater farmer control, pluralism in delivery
….. And scale up
 Reformed research – regional systems (not isolated national
systems) – specialization – stronger links to university systems –
demand driven elements at national level and below – pluralism in
delivery – strategic investment - more effective partnerships w/
CGIAR ….. And scale up
 Reformed ag education and training – raise human capital at
professional levels - stronger links to research system – regional
approaches – responsiveness of curriculum for relevance …… And
scale up

17. Important elements of the
FAAP agenda not yet done
 Scale up, capacity building, and reform at national level
 Regional approaches
 Greater focus of FARA and SROs on core roles (including
supporting evolution at national level)
 Further reduction in fragmentation of effort

18. Challenges at national level
 Despite wide-spread commitment to FAAP principles
and CAADP processes – reform limited so far and
programs less effective than they could be
 Extension and Education not sufficiently present in IPs
 Growth in budgets inadequate - resource constraints
matter
 Making this happen is difficult

19. Challenges for Continental
and Regional Structures
 Rapid growth of SROs and FARA
 Continued proliferation of projects (diverting attention from core
functions)
 Developing capacity to bring FAAP to bear at national level
 Dependence on (weak) national capacity to carry out regional
priorities
 Developing sustained and focused investments on strategic
priorities (Centers of excellence) – not just spreading it around
 Demonstrating and recording and communicating impact
 But Africa now in a good position to go forward

20. Implementing FAAP
Leadership and technical work from
FARA, SROs, AFAAS, TEAM Africa
Development of materials to lay out implications
of FAAP for program, institutional design
FARA / SROs / AFAAS / TEAM Africa to support
application of FAAP principles at country level
Scale-up of strategic programs at regional and
continental level

21. Work streams to support
Transformation Agenda
 Ensure funding of FARA, SROs, AFAAS, and TEAM Africa where they
focus on agreed roles and the Transformation Agenda
 Support strategic regional investments in research and education
 Scale-up and harmonization of support for REE at county level (on
FAAP-consistent programs that are part of CAADP IPs) w/
integration of research and university programs
 Support CAADP – CGIAR alignment and collaboration on
technology platform
 Focus on impact – but do not neglect long-term capacity building
 Embed REE in CAADP