Global agriculture R&D and the changing aid architecture

Agriculture research knowledge and technology that transcends national borders has played a crucial role in enhancing developing country productivity growth over the past 50 years. The demand for international agriculture research (IAR) continues to be strong today even while becoming increasingly differentiated by the stage of development that a particular country or region is in. The supply of IAR to developing country research programs is, however, becoming increasingly constrained by: variable donor support; a push toward downstream product adaptation and dissemination activities relative to innovation and product development; and a lack of clear links between international public good research and national agriculture development priorities. Country-level donor coordination and alignment mechanisms, specified in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, do not explicitly account for the role of IAR in the development process. While the movement toward national ownership of its development agenda and donor alignment around it is unquestionably good, an unintended consequence could be a break in the R&D pipeline that supplies public good research and technologies for enhancing developing country agriculture productivity growth. The article presents options for rebuilding synergies between international public good research and national agriculture development priorities.