After a period of strong support in the 1960s and 1970s, public funding for research and extension activities in LAC began to wane in the 1980s and 1990s. The strained economic context for many countries required the search for more cost-effective and efficient strategies for producing, disseminating and applying new knowledge and information in agriculture. At the same time, the demand for innovation became all the more pressing, as increased global competition required improvements in agricultural productivity. Consequently, many countries in the region in recent years have sought to revitalize their agricultural research and extension systems through a series of sustainability of funding for these services. Reflective of the drivers of reform, the focus has been on the following principles: 1) diversification in execution and funding; 2) allocation of funding on a competitive basis; 3) demand-driven financing; 4) empowerment of local communities; and, 5) increased private sector participation in implementation of the reform agenda. A series of case studies from the LAC region, including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, were conducted to review these institutional reform experiences in agriculture and distill lessons learned to further advance agricultural innovation systems in the region. The following summarizes some of the key trends in both agricultural research and extension based on the analysis of these varied country experiences.

This report assesses trends in investments, human resource capacity, and research outputs in agricultural R&D—excluding the private (for-profit) sector—in LAC. It is an update of Stads and Beintema (2009), covering a more complete set of countries and focusing primarily on developments during 2006–2012/2013.1 The analysis draws largely from a set of country factsheets prepared by Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI), which is led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), using comprehensive datasets derived from primary surveys and additional secondary sources targeting close to 700 agencies in 27 LAC countries.

The economic and institutional environment for NARS in the 1990s; Public and private sector funding and execution of research: key concepts; Alternative financing mechanisms; Perspectives for the year 2000 and beyond.