(Bientema and Stads 2011).<sup>33</sup> In 2008, Uganda was only one of eight countries out of a total of 31 that spent a little more than 1 percent of agricultural GDP on research – the average was 0.5 percent although returns are high (Pardey et al 2016).<sup>34</sup> As of 2014, Uganda’s outlay on R&D as a percent of GDP was 0.48 percent; it was negligible in the other two countries. Inevitably, researchers are few: as low as 12 per million inhabitants in Rwanda, 38 per million in Uganda and 50 per million in Malawi. In South Asia, there were 156 researchers per million and 1,606 in East Asia (WDI, 2016, Table 5.13). As research capabilities and a functioning S&T system take time to mature and the testing and diffusion of innovations can easily exceed a decade or more, there is little time to lose. Governments in East Africa must note that the longer-term return from R&D can be as high as 30 percent (Piesse and Thirtle 2010).<sup>35</sup> Pardey et al (2016) report that the average IRR on R&D was 42.3 percent in SSA while the median rate was 35 percent. CGIAR has obtained returns equal to $6 for each $1 invested in agricultural technologies and a $1 invested by SSA governments in R&D returned $3 (Fuglie and Rada 2013).

Moreover, the opposition to GMOs needs to be reconsidered. There is now a wealth of evidence showing that they are both safe and economically and environmentally beneficial.<sup>36</sup> Equally relevant is that there is no alternative way of achieving sustainable agricultural growth. Expertise in the technology – and in the regulatory and testing capacity - that can deliver the goods is being neglected and Africa is not grooming the firms that can play the role of a Monsanto or a Symantec in the region.<sup>37</sup> Currently three African countries cultivate GMOs – South Africa, Sudan and Burkina Faso and the latter is intending to abandon BT cotton. Absent intensified local research on genetically enhancing crops that are grown in East Africa, it is unlikely that the few large MNCs – e.g. Syngenta, Monsanto, BASF, Bayer, ChemChina, Dow and DuPont - will give these crops the attention they deserve.

# <u>An Agricultural Renaissance</u>

> 33 <u>http://www.ifpri.org/publication/african-agricultural-rd-new-millennium</u>

> 34 Investment by SSA countries in agricultural R&D was just 3.9 percent of the global total in 2011. Serious attention to R&D is only in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Mauritius. <u>http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/13828/development-benchmarks-for-africanagriculture</u>

> 35 <u>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20713401</u>

> 36 - - Brody (2018) Are GMO Foods safe? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/well/eat/are <u>gmo foods-safe.html. GM crops take many forms among which the most common are crops that are insect</u> resistant (Bt) or herbicide tolerant (Ht) or have stacked traits.

37 Chinese companies are investing in African farming although not thus far in Uganda, Malawi and Rwanda. Technology transfer is at an early stage because Chinese farming techniques are not necessarily suited for African conditions (Buckley 2013) <u>https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/2607/IDSB44.4%20Buckley% 20China%20(April%203).pdf?sequence=3</u> . However, Chinese firms have captured the African market for glyphosate herbicides and the Beijing Genomic Institute is working with the Gates Foundation to develop a new hybrid rice variety. Brazilian interest in transferring technology to Africa via the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) has yielded few tangible results has thus far. http://ecdpm.org/great-insights/emerging-economies-and-africa/china-brazil- <u>international-agribusiness/</u> 15