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in Eastern Africa, with 11 percent of the researchers (1,287 fte in
total) working in this area. Southern Africa has a major focus on
fruits, involving 21 percent of the researchers (791 fte in total) and
in West Africa rice is found to be most important (13 percent of a
total of 1,492 fte) (Beintema and Stads, 2006).
Various regional coordination and networking mechanisms have
been set-up in the past while others have discontinued. Some of
these regional initiatives will be highlighted in Chapter 3 of this report.
2.6 Staffing of universities and agricultural research
organisations
This section presents some available data on numbers and trends
in staff composition in different research institutions. Although
the gender issue is not a specific objective of this study, the topic
deserves some attention as it is believed that women are lagging
behind, both in terms of enrolment in agricultural education and in
career development in agricultural research (World Bank, 2007).
The National Agricultural Research Systems (or NARS) in
Africa have substantially grown from the 1960s. Between
1961 and 1991 the number of researchers (expressed in
full-time equivalents) working in Sub-Sahara Africa, increased
from 2,000 to 9,000 (Pardey et al, 1995) and this growth
continued up to 12,000 fte in 2000. However, the number
of support staff per scientist decreased drastically from
1991, when total staff was estimated at 96,000, to 72,000
only in 2000: a decline of 25 percent (Beintema and Stads,
2006). Staff composition changed drastically as well, with
expatriates representing 90 percent of the researchers in
national institutions in Sub-Sahara Africa (excluding South
Africa) in the early 1960s, 30 percent in the early 1980s, 11
percent in the 1990s and just 2 percent in 2000 (Beintema
and Stads, 2006). Staff training levels have also improved with
the number of staff having a post-graduate degree increasing
from 45 percent in the early 1980s to 65 percent in the early
1990s (Pardey et al., 1995) and 75percent in 2000. In 2000
about one-third of the staff members held a doctorate degree,
the share of researchers with a post-graduate degree being
highest in West Africa (Beintema and Stads, 2006). Education
levels of researchers vary with the kind of agency they work
for: almost half of the researchers working in higher education
have a doctorate degree, whereas in government agencies
and non-profit organisations this is a little over 20 percent
(Beintema and Stads, 2006).
In terms of total staff capacity there are a large differences
between the countries: “In 2000, just 5 of the 48 countries in
the region employed about 40 percent of all fte research staff in
agriculture. Nigeria (in West Africa) and South Africa (in southern
Africa) reported the largest capacities, at 1,352 and 1,029 fte
researchers, respectively, while Kenya, Sudan, and Ethiopia
(in East Africa) employed 740, 780, and 822 fte researchers,
respectively” (Beintema and Stads, 2006).
Also in terms of age distribution within agricultural research
and education institutions in Africa, there is a high level of
differentiation. Recent data on about 125 governmental research
and higher education agencies in 15 countries in Sub-Sahara
Africa, as collected by the ASTI project of IFPRI, shows that in the
francophone countries (Togo, Senegal, Burkina Faso, en Niger)
about 20 percent or less of the professional staff is 40 years old
or younger. Furthermore, 25 percent of staff in Togo and Niger,
35 percent in Burkina Faso, and as much as 56 percent in Senegal
is older than 50 years. In Ghana and Kenya, 35 percent of staff is
older than 50 years, while in Nigeria this is 30 percent. In South
Africa this is 26 percent. On the other hand, in the seven remaining
countries in the survey (Ethiopia, Botswana, Malawi, Uganda,
Zambia, Mozambique, Burundi) less than 20 percent of staff is
older than 50 years and more than half of the professional staff is
younger than 40. These latter countries therefore do not show the
supposed trend of aging within the African agricultural research
and education institutions (ASTI initiative: www.asti.cgiar.org).
Staff composition in terms of gender is unbalanced. Historical
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