Capacity Development for National Agricultural Research Systems: Rethinking USAID's Role

Event Information

National agricultural research systems (NARS) are the backbone of an agricultural innovation system and include all public, semi-public, and private agricultural R&D in a country, including universities, government laboratories, private sector research, and NGO or producer-led research enterprises. The Feed the Future Initiative recognizes the importance of agricultural research as a critical input towards achieving food security in the long term. Success in the Feed the Future research strategy will require effective NARS to test and adapt technologies at the country level. However, little investment has gone into this area in recent years and national systems now see a wave of retirement of senior scientists trained abroad along with decline of programs and facilities. This leaves many open questions:

  • Is collaboration in research execution adequate or is there need for focus support to research capacity development?
  • Should a donor support global research programs, regional research networks, or national research institutions?
  • At the national level, which types of host-country institutions represent the best investment: public research institutes, universities, private-sector firms, farmer organizations, or a combination of these? And how are national research programs best financed, governed, and coordinated?

Drawing upon outcomes from a recent expert gathering on NARS capacity development convened by the Bureau for Food Security’s Office of Agricultural Research and Policy, and a survey of USAID mission staff documenting recent NARS strengthening investments, speaker Dr. Jock Anderson presented key findings and lessons learned to guide USAID re-engagement in supporting national agricultural research systems. Panelists Larry Beach and Nienke Beitema offered complementary perspectives that will inform strategic decisions on scientific capacity development.

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Speakers

Jock Anderson

Headshot of Jock Anderson

Independent Consultant

Jock R. Anderson left his home farm near Monto, Queensland, Australia, to study agricultural science, at the University of Queensland, after which he worked first as an extensionist/agronomist in the private-sector fertilizer industry. He subsequently pursued a PhD in agricultural economics at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia, where he stayed on as a staff member, including as Professor of Agricultural Economics, and Dean of the Faculty of Economic Studies. Along the way he served as Chief Economist at what is now ABARE, Canberra, and Director of the mid-80s Impact Study of the CGIAR. He joined the World Bank in 1989 where he served inter alia as Adviser, Strategy and Policy, in the Agriculture and Rural Development Anchor. As a retiree he works for various international organizations, including CIMMYT, IFPRI, FAO and the World Bank, and recently worked with Weidemann International to assist USAID to revisit its Support for Capacity Development in National Agricultural Research Systems (NARSs).

Larry R.

Larry Beach headshot

USAID (ret'd)

Larry Beach was employed by the United States Department of Agriculture as the Senior Biotechnology Advisor in the United States Agency for International Development, Bureau for Food Security before he retired at the end of 2012. Before working with USAID he worked at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. for over 17 years where he led the laboratory research for seed modification for nutritional enhancement, oil quality and modified starches. At USAID he worked with partners in the public and private sector to help develop improved crops for developing country farmers. He identified technologies to address constraints that could not be addressed with traditional breeding. He then fostered the crop improvements by working with scientists around the world to implement advanced biotechnology techniques in local crops to overcome constraints such as abiotic stress (drought, salt, heat) and reduced yield due to insects and diseases. His main focus has been on crops for Africa, South Asia and the Philippines. NARs in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Bangladesh have been key partners in helping to develop bioengineered crops for farmers.

Nienke Beitema

Nienke photo

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Nienke Beintema is program head of the ASTI initiative. She has close to 20 years of experience in collecting and analyzing financial and human resource data of and examining institutional developments in agricultural R&D in low- and middle-income countries. She has written numerous papers and briefs on regional and global developments in agricultural R&D and has participated in many high-level debates related to agricultural R&D. Before joining IFPRI in 1995 as a research analyst, Nienke worked at ISNAR in The Hague. She is a citizen of the Netherlands and received a master's degree in economics from the University of Groningen.

Event Registration Information

Spotlight Event

In-person Event
Ronald Reagan Building 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Room M17/M18 Washington, DC, 20004, United States

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