Farmer and industry funding of agricultural research in Colombia.

Abstract

Introduction

Harvesting Prosperity: Technology and Productivity Growth in Agriculture

“…In Colombia, producer associations have enacted mandatory levies on sales of coffee, sugarcane, oil palm, rice, cotton, and cocoa. Some of these associations have established their own research stations, and others have contracted research through CORPOICA, the main public research institute (Estrada, Holmann, and Posada 2002). In 2013, nearly 40 percent of the total spending on agricultural R&D in Colombia was funded through producer levies (Stads et al 2016).…”

Colombia: A Public Private Partnership

“…These figures include the World Bank loan disbursed via PRONATTA; counterpart funding from MADR, which included a 50 percent contribution toward technology development activities; and a 15 percent contribution to training activities (Berdegue and Escobar 1999). Despite PRONATTA's objective of stimulating private-sector involvement in agricultural R&D, the share of disbursed funds for research executed by the private sector totaled only 2 percent for the period 1995-99 (Estrada, Holmann, and Posada 2002). Of the total approved projects during this period, 44 percent were from CORPOICA (PRONATTA 2000); however, in the 1998 call for proposals, CORPOICA's share of the total successful submissions dropped to around 35 percent.…”

Private Sector Participation in the Brazilian Agricultural Research System: Case studies from the cotton and dairy industries

“…Besides responsibility for deciding the allocation of resources to research projects, the board may also work in other parallel activities like political lobbying, promotion of the commodity in national and international markets, and carrying out the government regulatory processes for the sector. The majority of the boards formed to distribute these levies operate with substantial autonomy, although the producers have considerable influence in the decision-making process (Allegri 2002;Byerlee and Echeverría 2002;Estrada et al 2002;Kangasniemi 2002). Byerlee and Echeverría (2002); Brennan and Mullen (2002); Estrada et al (2002); Kangasniemi (2002); and Allegri (2002) have described the experience of countries such as Australia, Colombia, Africa, and Uruguay and respectively defined some lessons that should to be observed by countries with the intention of implementing their own system of research levies:…”