Abstract
Agricultural Research and Development (R&D) investments contribute greatly to economic growth, agricultural development and poverty reduction in developing countries. This paper examines the financial investment and expenditure trends in agricultural R&D in Ghana with emphasis on the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the implication for the policies driving agricultural research in Ghana. Data from Agricultural Science & Technology Indicator (ASTI) and in-depth studies on agricultural R&D in Ghana were used. Purposive sampling was used to gather data in thirteen agricultural research institutes and five public universities in Ghana. Through questionnaire administration, data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed that, total public agricultural R&D expenditure had increased by 59 per cent from 42.5 million (2005 PPP) dollars in 2000 to 67.7 million (2005 PPP) dollars in 2011 and with an average expenditure of 54.1 million (2005 PPP) dollars per year. The total expenditure by CSIR constitutes about 50 per cent of the total agricultural research expenditure in Ghana. The study however, showed a drastic decline in capital investments from 6.7 per cent in 2000 to 0.1 per cent in 2011 of the total government funding with operational cost following similar declining pattern. Still, when considering the totality of funding including salaries and wages, government support is the main source of funding for agricultural R&D in Ghana (85 per cent) with donors (7.3 per cent), sale of goods and services (6.7 per cent) and others serving as complementary sources. Though there have been considerable government investments in agricultural R&D in CSIR over the period, impact on operational and research activities has been minimal as the chunk of it went into payment of salaries and wages. The fundamental challenge is funding the very important operational and research activities which lead to technology development and innovation. Increasing commercialization of research technologies and government investment in agricultural R&D in Ghana, are recommended to address this investment challenge.
Highlights
Rising food prices are globally compounding the challenges of hunger and poverty [1]
Beyond Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), 57 departments of agriculture of public higher educational institutions and two non-CSIR government institutes—Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) and Marine Fisheries Research Division (MFRD) were involved in the study
This highlights the importance of CSIR in the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) in Ghana and the performance of CSIR to some extent has a direct link with the performance of the agricultural sector
Summary
Rising food prices are globally compounding the challenges of hunger and poverty [1]. In the fifty years agricultural production needs to be increased more than ever before in spite of the fixed amounts of arable land, dwindling water resources, population increase, decreasing soil fertility and the impact of climate change [2]-[4] These challenges have placed high demand for new technologies to achieve increased agricultural productivity, food security and the post-2015 development goals related to poverty and hunger as well as nutrition and health. A central objective in Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) is for the agricultural sector to “play a critical role in the transformation of the country’s economy” [4] [8] This emphasis on agriculture is still underscored with the global adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015. It contributed over 22 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014 and this amounted to 23,640 million Ghana Cedis (Institute of Social Statistical and Economic Research) [9]
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