A recent ASTI report points to large-scale underinvestment in agricultural research and development (R&D) and major research capacity gaps across Southeast Asia. The region will need to step up its agricultural R&D investment to enhance future agricultural productivity, food security, and poverty reduction, and to respond more effectively to challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation.
Agricultural Research in Southeast Asia: A Cross-Country Analysis of Resource Allocation, Performance and Impact on Productivity analyzes agricultural research systems and investment levels across Southeast Asia. It reveals that regionwide agricultural research spending has remained stagnant over the past two decades, despite rapid increases in agricultural production levels. In 2017, Southeast Asia invested just 0.33 percent of its agricultural production value in agricultural research, much lower than the 0.50 percent recorded in 2000, or the 1-percent target recommended by the United Nations. The extent of underinvestment in agricultural research differs across countries. Yet, all Southeast Asian countries are investing below the levels deemed attainable.
“Southeast Asia has the potential to meet the global challenges ahead, but only if it makes the financial commitment to research,” says Gert-Jan Stads, lead author of the report. “Stable and sustainable levels of funding are critical to supporting effective research that yields increased agricultural productivity.”
Agricultural researcher numbers, qualification levels, and female participation have steadily improved across Southeast Asia over the past two decades. However, the performance and innovative capacity of many of Southeast Asia’s agricultural research systems remains inadequate.
“Countries like Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar remain characterized by low scientific output and researcher productivity, which are the direct consequence of insufficient funding and inadequately qualified researchers,” says Norah Omot of the Asia–Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions. “Even though most other countries in the region have more advanced agricultural research systems, important resource constraints prevent them from functioning at optimal levels. Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, for example, are bound to lose a sizeable number of their most qualified and experienced researchers in the coming years due to retirement, making the recruitment and training of the next generation of scientists an urgent priority.”
Growing national economies, higher disposable incomes and changing consumption patterns will prompt considerable shifts in production, consumption, import and export levels of agricultural commodities across Southeast Asia over the next 20 to 30 years. The investment decisions that governments make today will affect agricultural productivity for decades to come. “Southeast Asia will need to increase its agricultural research investment substantially to be able to effectively address future agricultural production challenges and ensure productivity growth. The important role of science, technology and innovation therefore cannot be underestimated,” says Stads.
To assist governments’ decision-making processes, the ASTI report provides various forward-looking agricultural research investment scenarios and their impact on future agricultural productivity. For example, ASTI’s projections for the next 30 years reveal that prioritizing investment in staple crops such as rice will trigger fastest agricultural productivity growth in Laos. Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, on the other hand, could achieve faster growth by prioritizing research investment in fruit, vegetables, livestock, and aquaculture.
