Exploring strategic priorities for regional agricultural R&D investments in East and Central Africa

This paper explains that given that many countries in the East and Central Africa region are small and face similar agro-ecological, climatic, and development challenges, relying on expensive national research and development (R&D) programs is bound to prove inefficient and costly. Instead, potential economies of scale can be derived through the regionalisation of R&D.

Through regional organisations and networks such as the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), national agricultural research systems (NARS) can pool scarce resources, collaborate more frequently, and share knowledge and information on technology solutions and applications for the common good. The challenge for such networks is to identify research priorities with the highest rates of economic return from both a regional and national perspective. Methodology to assess regional research priorities is a critical input, particularly when it comes to weighing likely complementarities among individual research programs, thus maximizing impact across countries at the regional level.

The paper presents such an approach using spatial analysis and the Dynamic Research Evaluation for Management (Dream) modeling software. The results of the study indicate significant potential for agricultural technology spill overs within the region. Countries will therefore reap greater economic benefits in their search for technology solutions if they pool their resources and pursue regional initiatives for the common good.

Key concluding points noted include:

• rather than individual countries “going it alone”, nations of the East and Central African region could reap potentially large economic benefits by pooling their resources to find common technology solutions to shared problems
• regionalisation would not only allow for greater research scope at a lower unit cost, but also provide for larger national gains by providing the critical mass that is normally beyond the capacity of national systems. Moreover, regionally focused technology programs can take advantage of ongoing R&D investments in select countries, especially when they have a high potential for adaptation in neighbouring countries
• under a regional research initiative, coffee could potentially yield the largest benefits to the three focus countries of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and to the whole region due to the spill over of technology. Ideally, the stream of benefits accruing from the wide spread diffusion of productivity-enhancing technologies among these commodities alone could be sustained over time through steadily rising producer incomes
• knowing something about the future economic returns to research is very useful for informing research priority-setting processes; however, it is by no means the only criterion. Stakeholder preferences relating to the usefulness of the technology in addressing local needs, customs, or environmental considerations is just as important
• like any other economic analysis, results are intended to contribute to the policy debate and offer quantifiable weights for ranking purposes. The danger arises when too many non-economic considerations are introduced, ultimately rendering the economic analysis irrelevant.