[ti:Much of Africa Not Investing Enough in Agricultural Research] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Agriculture Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.98]Agriculture Report. [00:04.92]Investing in agricultural [00:07.26]research and development [00:09.01]can help poor countries [00:11.00]fight hunger and poverty. [00:13.53]A new study says investments [00:16.77]in sub-Saharan Africa increased [00:20.10]by more than twenty percent [00:22.60]between two thousand one [00:24.54]and two thousand eight. [00:27.03]But the study also found that [00:29.97]just a few countries [00:31.36]were responsible [00:32.65]for most of that growth. [00:34.89]Nigeria was responsible [00:37.48]for one-third of it. [00:39.38]Ghana, Tanzania, Sudan and Uganda [00:43.71]also increased their spending. [00:46.45]But thirteen countries [00:48.74]decreased their investments. [00:51.48]Nienke Beintema from the [00:53.47]Washington-based International [00:55.31]Food Policy Research Institute [00:58.34]led the study. [00:59.69]She says new technologies [01:02.43]are needed to deal with [01:04.18]some of the causes of hunger. [01:06.46]NIENKE BEINTEMA: "Food price volatility, [01:08.26]growing population, [01:09.55]water scarcity and climate change. [01:12.64]There is more demand [01:14.38]on better technologies [01:15.77]or different technologies [01:17.16]to address these issues." [01:18.71]She says some countries, [01:20.26]including Nigeria, [01:22.05]have increased their investments [01:24.49]after spending far [01:26.13]too little in the past. [01:28.12]NIENKE BEINTEMA: "It is a positive sign [01:29.57]because it is more commitment [01:31.42]from the government. [01:32.31]But Nigeria had extremely low levels [01:34.50]of agricultural research funding. [01:36.50]I was there for the first time [01:38.84]in two thousand or two thousand one. [01:40.41]And I visited institutes [01:42.06]that could not function. [01:43.50]They even did not have a phone line, [01:44.89]or they did not have gas [01:46.34]for the cars, [01:47.28]one computer that did not work." [01:49.23]Nigeria now has the largest [01:51.42]agricultural research system [01:53.81]south of the Sahara. [01:55.65]That is one measure of progress. [01:58.35]But Nienke Beintema says [02:00.79]a better measure is whether [02:02.78]a country is spending more than [02:05.02]one percent of its agricultural [02:07.01]money on research. [02:09.41]And in two thousand eight, [02:12.34]she says, [02:13.05]Nigeria was not doing that. [02:15.45]Botswana, Burundi, Kenya, Mauritania [02:19.98]and Mauritius were spending [02:22.57]more than one percent. [02:24.26]So were Namibia, [02:26.11]South Africa and Uganda. [02:28.66]Ms. Bientema examined levels [02:31.74]of financing and employment [02:33.73]at three hundred seventy [02:35.53]research centers [02:36.72]in thirty-two countries. [02:38.62]She believes most countries [02:41.06]depend too heavily [02:42.60]on international donations [02:45.25]to help pay for research. [02:47.99]Many donations are short term, [02:51.52]she says, and the research [02:53.61]often ends when the money [02:56.10]has been spent. [02:57.44]Ms. Bientema says [02:59.53]countries must improve [03:01.42]their higher education systems [03:03.92]to get more qualified researchers. [03:06.76]But the study found that [03:09.30]new researchers are not [03:11.34]being hired in some countries [03:13.33]because of budget problems. [03:15.77]At the same time, [03:17.46]many older researchers [03:19.80]are nearing retirement age. [03:22.14]Private industry may be able [03:25.33]to help if governments [03:27.07]cut their spending. [03:28.62]Some cooperatives, for example, [03:31.40]raise money for research [03:33.60]into important crops. [03:36.14]And that's the VOA Special English [03:39.88]Agriculture Report, [03:41.52]written by Jerilyn Watson [03:43.67]and Steve Baragona. [03:45.33]For more agricultural news [03:48.16]and to learn English, [03:49.95]go to 51voa.com. [03:53.45]I'm Steve Ember.