Evans School Policy Analysis & Research Group (EPAR)

Agriculture plays a dominant role in the economies of sub-Saharan African countries though productivity has historically lagged behind other regions. In the past two decades, agriculture has been re-prioritized in policy and governments are increasingly mobilizing funding from diverse sources to finance agricultural development projects.

Research and development (R&D) is work that pertains to innovation, introduction, and improvement of products and processes. The R&D process for new products and services often takes years and large investments to come to fruition, and funders face the risk that some investments may fail to generate returns to investors or benefits to users. Thus, estimates of the costs, risk, and potential returns to R&D projects all influence funders’ decisions around where to invest.