Good Practice Recommendations for the Governance and Management of Modern Agricultural Research, Development and Innovation Organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean
Date issued
Mar 2022
There is abundant evidence that well-directed and well-executed investment in public agricultural research, development and innovation (RDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) can enhance economies, improve food security and reduce poverty (e.g. Stads et al., 2016). To achieve these benefits, many of LAC's RDI institutions must overcome existing challenges and stimulate greater levels of in-country support for their activities. Since the beginning of this century many LAC nations have made efforts to adapt their national RDI systems to address these challanges with more researchers, wider capabilities, higher levels of academic education and training, renewed governance and management models, and more participatory processes for research prioritization, collaborative networks and public-private investment platforms (Gianoni and Trigo, 2021).
The authors agree that well-developed national agricultural research systems with adequate levels of targeted investment supporting trained personnel are essential prerequisites for agricultural productivity improvement promoting economic uplift, greater food security and poverty reduction. In LAC the transformation of the national RDI ecosystem and institutions is needed to meet the current and emerging challenges in the region. According to the identified challenges, the transformations to be tackled will require careful determining of what RDI and institutional models are desired and how to execute these highly inter-connected transformations. Based on their experience, the authors share practical recommendations for policymakers and other stakeholders to accelerate transformative improvements in LAC's agricultural RDI institutions to position them to meet the new challenges.
The authors agree that well-developed national agricultural research systems with adequate levels of targeted investment supporting trained personnel are essential prerequisites for agricultural productivity improvement promoting economic uplift, greater food security and poverty reduction. In LAC the transformation of the national RDI ecosystem and institutions is needed to meet the current and emerging challenges in the region. According to the identified challenges, the transformations to be tackled will require careful determining of what RDI and institutional models are desired and how to execute these highly inter-connected transformations. Based on their experience, the authors share practical recommendations for policymakers and other stakeholders to accelerate transformative improvements in LAC's agricultural RDI institutions to position them to meet the new challenges.