If anything good came out from the current global food crisis, that would be the renewed focus to invest in research and development (R&D) in agriculture, similar to the Green Revolution that prevented a burgeoning famine in the 1960s.

The renewed call for agricultural R&D, however, is a belated silver lining. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, developing a stable and superior crop variety takes seven to 10 years, and agriculture innovators need past, cumulative stock of research knowledge.

But given the fact that agricultural R&D investments in developing countries have an average rate of return of 43 percent, it’s still not entirely too late to start allotting more funds to research.

We need a global initiative in agricultural R&D against the backdrop of increased global interdependence of the agrifood production system.

But as the present state of advanced technology, climate change and globalization dictate re-engaging in agriculture in a manner different from the Green Revolution, these same conditions also compel a different, innovative approach to agricultural R&D.

Three major barriers offset the chances of small farmers in developing countries to reap its benefits: the wide and growing gap in funding between the developed and developing world, less opportunities for technological spillovers from developed countries and a changing environment for innovation.

While 66 percent of public investment in agriculture R&D occurred in developing countries, a huge chunk of it came from China and India. In 2000 80 developing countries accounted for only 6 percent of global R&D spending; this aggregate is more than what each of 35 public universities in the US spent in 2004.

And because R&D in the developed world is shifting toward enhancing food attributes and food systems rather than in increasing productivity, less and less opportunities are available for developing countries to adopt their research breakthroughs.

Patent rights, to start with, are now being introduced in agriculture inventions, making it even less likely for technological spillovers to occur.

While industrialized economies like the US and Europe should rightfully lead a global initiative in agricultural R&D, developing countries such as the Philippines should begin collaborative research and, at the same time, aggressively pursue becoming self-reliant in conducting its own R&D.

The first step for the Philippines would be to increase agricultural R&D spending from the current 0.1 percent to 1 percent of agriculture GDP, the United Nations’ recommended level for developing countries. Research breakthroughs must reach the grassroots in order to be useful, hence, extension services to farmers should, likewise, be strengthened, and infrastructure that facilitates adopting new technologies should be laid out. 

E-mail: edgardo_angara@hotmail.com. Web site: www.edangara.com.

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