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128 | Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Report

Table 3-3. continued.

Variable

Current situation

Source

Focalized social
segments

In most countries in LAC—except Cuba—R+D is better informed on the supplychain
segments represented by big and medium producers, agri-business,
wholesalers, and retailers than on subsistence producers and indigenous
communities.

Castro et al.,
2005; Lima
et al., 2005;
Santamaría G.
et al., 2005;
Ramirez-Gastón
R. et al., 2007;
Saldaña et al.,
2006

Capacity in R+D

There is a “specialization index” that equals “1” for the case of all researchers
with completed tertiary (university) education, and is “3” for all researchers with
a doctorate. For Brazil, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Trinidad and
Tobago, the value of the index is “2”; for Costa Rica, Bolivia and Colombia, the
average index is above “1.5” and for the rest of the countries, it is above “1”.
Countries with the lowest formation level (most of researchers with a licentiate
degree) are Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay. There are no data for Cuba.

RICYT, 2007.

Investment in
agricultural R+D

The countries which invest more in terms of average GDP (1990-2004) are Brazil
(0.9%), Cuba, Chile (about 0.6%), Argentina, Mexico, and Panamá (about 0.4%);
the rest of the countries invest less than 0.3%, and some below 0.1% (Ecuador, El
Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Paraguay).

RICYT, 2007
Performance
 Technologies that because of their relevance are presently considered “leading
technologies” for most of countries are those addressing the following changes
in agricultural production systems: (a) Increase in agricultural and silvicultural
productivities; (b) reduction of agricultural and silvicultural production costs; (c)
improvement of product quality in production chains; (d) food security; and (e)
improvement process quality in agricultural and silvicultural production chains.
These technologies are more suitable for medium and big producers, but less so
for agri-business.
Castro et al.,
2005; Lima
et al., 2005;
Santamaría G.
et al., 2005;
Ramirez-Gastón
R. et al., 2007;
Saldaña et al.,
2006
Relative spaces of
public and private R+D
 In Latin America a scenario is emerging such that the private sector is becoming
keener to invest in R+D activities, particularly in the improvement of cultivars of
crops like corn (and increasingly soybean), which would readily produce profits. In
Brazil it is also observed a growing participation of the private sector—the national
one mostly—in R+D.
Castro et al.,
2005; Lima et
al., 2005; Castro
et al., 2006
  There are evidences that in Argentina the transnational private sector invests in
biotechnology about six times the amount invested by the public sector.
Varela y Bisang,
2006
Variables for agricultural production systems
Incorporation of
knowledge to agriculture
 The countries which invest more in terms of average GDP (1990-2004) are Brazil
(0.9%), Cuba, Chile (about 0.6%), Argentina, Mexico, and Panamá (about 0.4%);
the rest of the countries invest less than 0.3%, and some below 0.1% (Ecuador, El
Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Paraguay).
RICYT, 2007
Resources for
agriculture
 Expenses per rural inhabitant (1991-2001). >US$1,000: Uruguay; >US$150 &
<US$300: Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile; >US$75 & <US$150: Panamá,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela; <US$75: Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Paraguay, Jamaica, Peru,
Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia.
de Ferranti et al.,
2005
  Agricultural and rural public expenses as percent of agricultural GDP. Average
for 1990-2001 was 12.8%. Countries where those expenses were: (a) above the
average: Uruguay, Panama, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua and Chile; (b)
equal to the average: Guatemala and Honduras and (c) below the average: Bolivia,
Ecuador, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Peru, Brazil, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
Argentina, Paraguay and Colombia.
Kjöllerström,
2004
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