Global investment gap in agricultural research and innovation to meet Sustainable Development Goals for hunger and Paris Agreement climate change mitigation

Abstract

This paper provides estimates of the global investment gap in agricultural research and development (R&D) and innovation. The investment gap is defined as the additional annual investments required to end hunger in 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal SDG2) and to put agriculture on the pathway to the Paris Agreement target for 1.5°C increase over pre-industrial temperature levels. The investment gap is projected relative to a reference scenario with projections to 2030 using an integrated economic-biophysical model of the global agri-food system. In addition to showing the impacts on hunger, the modeling results are used to simulate the effect of the gap-closing investments on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture. In addition to projecting the impacts of overall investment in agricultural R&D on productivity and environmental outcomes, the analysis assesses the contributions of different types of innovative technologies and farming systems to the environmental outcomes, especially technologies that contribute to sustainability outcomes. Sustainability-oriented technologies and management practices examined include conservation tillage, nitrogen-use efficiency, improved livestock management, and other climate-smart technologies. The projected results show that additional agricultural R&D investments of USD 4 billion per year above baseline investments together with USD 6.5 billion per year invested in technical climate-smart options, can reduce hunger to 5% globally and achieve 2030 GHG emission reductions consistent with the Paris Agreement 2°C and 1.5°C pathways to 2030.

Transformation of Food Systems: How Can It Be Financed?

“…and the starting year for the baseline. Díaz-Bonilla [1] summarizes the costs related to SDG2 and ending hunger following the work reported in von Braun et al [11] , with the background of two other studies [12,13] . The latter (part of the project called Ceres2030: Sustainable Solutions to End Hunger) considers 14 interventions and policy instruments to end hunger, increase agricultural incomes, and achieve some environmental outcomes, grouped in three main blocks related to social inclusion, farm development, and markets and infrastructure.…”

“…A broader estimate is in FOLU (2019), which calculates costs of 10 critical transitions in food systems for the whole world, including "Healthy Diets", "Productive & Regenerative Agriculture", "Protecting & Restoring Nature", "A Healthy & Note: Sourced from Díaz-Bonilla [1] based on the studies cited there. For IFPRI, IISD, and Cornell, see Laborde et al [13] .…”

“…For example, regarding climate finances developed countries pledged in 2009 at COP15 to provide 100 billion USD annually for mitigation and adaptation by 2020; this pledge was renewed at COP26, but it is yet to be fulfilled (the latest figure for 2020 is about 83 billion USD, lower than the average for 2017-2018 mentioned before). Also, Díaz-Bonilla [1] suggested that international development flows for food systems should be increased by about 15 billion USD above current levels (within the range suggested in Laborde, Parent, and Smaller [13] ) to achieve SDG2 and eliminate hunger (including funding to support a Zero Hunger Alliance & Fund to help countries design and implement national programs to eliminate hunger).…”

Public Investment in Agri-Food System Innovation for Sustainable Development

“…This raises the question of why agricultural R&D investment and productivity are not accelerating if there is widespread consensus that investment in agricultural research generates high economic returns and is highly effective pathway for reducing poverty and hunger, and addressing climate change impacts of agrifood systems [17][18][19] . James et al [20] highlight three main reasons for this underinvestment challenge in LMICs: incomplete markets, appropriability problems and price distortions.…”

“…However, only 7% of LMIC spending on agricultural innovation is currently estimated to be targeting sustainable agricultural intensification investments, showing only little change over time [27] . Therefore, increased investment will need to be directed to research and innovation focused on healthier and more sustainable diets, improvements in technology and management, reductions in food waste and loss, mitigation of GHG emissions, and increased smallholder resilience and adaptation to climate change [28] .…”