facilitated by APAARI ASTI Country Brief | July 2019 and IFPRI INDO-PACIFIC BANGLADESH Gert-Jan Stads, Md. Mustafizur Rahman, Alejandro Nin-Pratt, and Lang Gao AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SPENDING BANGLADESH INDIA (2014) NEPAL SRI LANKA 7,500 Million taka 6,000 (2011 constant prices) 6,664.0 4,500 3,000 Million PPP dollars 1,500 (2011 constant prices) 287.9 3,298.4 81.9 112.4 0 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 SPENDING INTENSITY 1.00 0.90 0.80 0.70 Agricultural research 0.60 0.50 spending as a share 0.40 of AgGDP 0.38% 0.30% 0.42% 0.62% 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.00 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCHERS 2,500 Full-time 2,000 equivalents 2,268.6 12,746.6 519.7 648.0 1,500 1,000 Share of researchers with 500 MSc and PhD degrees 91% 99% 71% 78% 0 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Notes: Data in the table above are for 2016. Information on access to further resources, data procedures and methodologies, and acronyms and definitions are provided on Page 8. See www.asti. cgiar.org/bangladesh/directory for an overview of Bangladesh’s agricultural R&D agencies. Agricultural research investment Despite this growth, Bangladesh Although research staff numbers and and human resource capacity still only invested 0.38 percent of its qualification levels have gradually improved in Bangladesh have grown AgGDP in agricultural research in over time, an aging pool of PhD-qualified considerably in recent years, 2016—well below the level needed to researchers remains as an important largely as a result of increased address multiple challenges, including challenge. government and World Bank rapid population growth and severe funding. climate change impacts. INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE, 2016 RESEARCHER PROFILE, 2016 RESEARCH FOCUS, 2016 1% By gender (%) 15% 3% 25% 31% 78% 22% MALE FEMALE 6% 53% 9% 1% By qualification level (FTEs) 3% PhD 11% 840.0 Crop categories Crops Cereals 18% 41% Livestock BARI MSc 1,220.2 Roots and tubers 4 % Forestry Other BARC-aliated Pulses 5 % Fisheries NIB Oil-bearing crops 4 % Natural resources BSc 208.3 Horticultural crops 9 % Higher education Socioeconomics Other crops 12 % Nonprot Other CHALLENGE POLICY IMPLICATIONS BARC’s mandate of coordinating the country’s agricultural While the 2012 BARC Act conferred the Council with greater research is constrained by a number of factors: authority to approve research programs and recommend (1) research institutes are administered by different budget allocations to its affiliated research institutes, BARC ministries and under different legislation and regulations; still lacks the autonomy to allocate funding based on (2) the civil service system of promotions restricts designated research priorities and the quality and quantity researchers’ opportunities for career advancement; and of results and outputs. Such autonomy is needed to enhance (3) BARC has no authority in allocating research funding the efficiency and effectiveness of Bangladesh’s agricultural despite being responsible for reviewing the institutes’ research. research programs and budgets each year. Agricultural researchers by qualification level, 2000–2016 Agricultural researchers by qualification level, 2016 No. of FTEs PhD MSc BSc TOTAL 2,500 SECTOR/AGENCY (FTEs) 208 2,000 112 Government 179 BARI 221.0 313.0 167.0 701.0 1,500 225 Other BARC-affiliated (12) 310.2 591.8 37.5 939.5 277 1,269 1,220 NIB 7.0 25.0 — 32.0 1,117 1,000 1,014 905 Higher education BAU (6) 114.3 59.1 — 173.4 500 757 840 Other higher education (42) 182.9 216.6 3.0 402.5 554 411 436 Nonprofit (2) 4.6 14.8 0.8 20.2 0 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Total (64) 840.0 1,220.2 208.3 2,268.6 PhD MSc BSc Note: Values in parentheses indicate the number of agencies in each category. During 2000–2016, Bangladesh’s agricultural research capacity Of the 2,269 FTEs involved in agricultural research in Bangladesh in 2016, grew by more than 40 percent. Average qualification levels also 37 percent were PhD-qualified. Researchers with MSc degrees accounted improved considerably during this time. In 2016, 37 percent of for 54 percent, and researchers with BSc degrees for 9 percent. Average the country’s agricultural researchers held PhD degrees qualification levels were higher at BAU and the other higher education compared with 26 percent in 2000. The total number of agencies than at government institutions. PhD-qualified agricultural researchers more than doubled during this period in absolute terms. LARGE-SCALE CAPACITY STRENGTHENING THROUGH NATP The main factor underlying the rapid improvement in the qualifications of Bangladeshi researchers is the National Agricultural Technology Program (NATP), funded through loans from the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The program, spanning 2009–2024, focuses on revitalizing agricultural research and extension, and linking small producers of high-value commodities with the market. NATP funds a large number of research activities while also focusing on enhancing the efficiency of BARC and the agricultural research institutes through institutional reform, human resource develop- ment, and the establishment of well-functioning systems of management and information and communications technologies. NATP comprises three phases. During its first phase (NATP–I: 2009–2014), 108 researchers successfully completed PhD degrees both in Bangladesh and in other Asian countries. An additional 10 scientists completed postdoctoral research (in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) in areas of biosafety, climate change, research priority setting, and geographic information systems. NATP’s second phase (NATP–II: 2016–2021) earmarked PhD-degree funding for an additional 120 scientists (60 at local universities and 60 at universities elsewhere) in areas such as biotechnology, crop modeling and simulation, nanotechnology, precision agriculture, and geographical information systems. In addition to degree-level training, NATP-II is also funding short-term training activities in Bangladesh and abroad based on thorough analyses of skills gaps. Aside from NATP, additional degree-level training opportunities for Bangladeshi researchers are being funded by donor agencies, BARC, the Prime Minister Fellowship program, and other government sources. MEASURES TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN TALENTED YOUNG SCIENTISTS Despite an overall increase in researcher numbers among BARC-affiliated institutes since the turn of the millennium, more than 300 highly qualified researchers left these institutes during 2000–2012 to accept opportunities with better remuneration elsewhere. To curb this brain drain, the Bangladesh government introduced a series of measures to retain and motivate agricultural researchers. These included a one-off additional month’s salary for researchers in 2013, and permanent salary increases of as much as 100 percent from 2015. More government and donor-funded opportunities now exist to help young researchers pursue degree-level education both at home and abroad. Combined, these measures have been fairly successful in recent years in halting the loss of capacity. From another perspective, steps have been taken to raise the retirement age for “outstanding” researchers from 59 to 65 years (in line with the higher education sector). To this end, BARC has prepared a set of guidelines and performance criteria on which approvals for late retirement will be based, and these have been submitted for ministerial approval. This strategy could at least ameliorate the acute age-related capacity challenge the country faces. Agricultural researchers by age bracket, 2016 As of 2016, nearly 60 percent of PhD-qualified researchers at BARI and about half of those at the other BARC-affiliated institutes were in their fifties and BARI 701.0 FTEs approaching the mandatory civil servant retirement age of 59 years. PhD 5 36 59 Researchers with MSc and BSc degrees were considerably younger, as were university-based scientists. It is important that young MSc-qualified Total 14 41 23 23 researchers are given the opportunity to upgrade their qualifications so that BARI and the other BARC-affiliated institutes can maintain an appropriately Other BARC-aliated 939.5 FTEs trained pool of agricultural scientists into the future. PhD 9 42 49 Total 14 34 29 23 Higher education 575.9 FTEs PhD 2 29 37 27 4 Total 15 33 29 20 3 0 20 40 60 80 100 Share within each category (%) <31 31–40 41–50 51–60 >60 Institutional composition of national agricultural research, 2000–2016 No. of FTEs 2,500 20 Breakdown FTEs BAU 173 2,000 SAU 99 10 576 BSMRAU 59 3 362 32 Other universities 245 1,500 204 Total 576 940 1,000 881 901 The composition of Bangladeshi agricultural research has undergone important 500 shifts over time, with the higher education sector playing an increasingly 598 701 485 prominent role. The number of university-based FTE researchers nearly tripled 0 during 2000–2016. BARI’s research capacity also expanded considerably (from 2000 2008 2016 485 to 701 FTEs). In contrast, research capacity at the other BARC-affiliated BARI Other BARC-aliated NIB Higher education Nonprot institutes remained comparatively stable during this timeframe. Note: NIB was established in 2010. CDB and BSRTI are categorized under “Other BARC-affiliated” even though their association with BARC only began in 2012. CHALLENGE POLICY IMPLICATIONS Despite its recent increase in agricultural research Clear signs of the government’s prioritization of agriculture and spending, Bangladesh is still underinvesting. In agricultural research include the prominence of agricultural 2016, the country’s spending on agricultural R&D research in the seventh Five-Year Plan and the government’s represented only 0.38 percent of its AgGDP, which commitment to NATP. It will be important, however, for this is low based on the country’s rapid population support to be sustained and enhanced into the future.