Publication cover

Authors:

John Lynam, Nienke Beintema, Johannes Roseboom, Ousmane Badiane, eds

Year:

2016

Publisher

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Further information

The full book including Individual chapter downloads are available on the IFPRI website

 

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Agriculture in Africa south of the Sahara is at a prospective tipping point. Growth has accelerated in the past decade, but is unsustainable given increasing use of finite resources.

Agricultural Research in Africa: Investing in Future Harvests discusses the need to shift to a growth path based on increased productivity—essential if Africa is to increase rural incomes and compete in both domestic and international markets. Such a shift ultimately requires building on evolving improvements that collectively translate to deepening rural innovation capacity.

An essential component of innovation is a continuous supply of improved agricultural technologies and management practices stemming from an effective and efficient agricultural research system. The basic architecture of such a system is essentially in place, but it has yet to coalesce into a fully integrated system with clear divisions of labor and effective subsidiarity.

Increasing national agricultural research investment remains a critical prerequisite for achieving balanced agricultural growth in Africa.