Public–Private Partnerships in International Agricultural Research: An Analysis of Constraints

Abstract

Public–private partnerships are a potentially important means of conducting pro-poor agricultural research in many developing countries. Yet within the international agricultural research sector, there are few examples of successful collaboration that have contributed to food security, poverty reduction or agricultural development. This study hypothesizes that partnerships between public research agencies and private, multinational firms are constrained by fundamentally different incentive structures; prohibitive costs, both direct and indirect; mutually negative perceptions between the sectors; and high levels of competition and risk associated with valuable assets and resources. Based on a survey of key stakeholders and a review of the literature, findings suggest that the primary impediments to partnership are perceptions, competition and risk, while issues of costs and conflicting incentives are secondary. These findings suggest that investment in innovative organizational mechanisms and supportive public policies could facilitate more, and more successful, public–private partnerships in pro-poor agricultural research. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006agricultural development, research and development, public-private partnership, L33, O3, Q16,

What is trust?: perspectives from farmers and other experts in the field of agriculture in Africa

“…Muraguri [7], for example, noted that donor control of funds and the technology being supply-driven and science-led-rather than user-driven-are factors hampering the ability of agbiotech PPPs to have a positive impact on the attainment of food security in Kenya. In a survey conducted of key informants on PPPs between Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centers and multinational agricultural research firms, 40% stated that mutually negative perceptions stemming from distrust and suspicion were a primary impediment to greater partnership [4]. This finding is supported by other studies concluding that a lack of trust poses a significant challenge to the success of PPPs [3,11,12].…”

“…Like any other PPP, they must continually foster a culture of trust among members in order to be efficient, effective and of high impact. Yet, not only do the public and private sector hold mutually negative perceptions of each other [4], but public and private partners involved in agbiotech initiatives must deal with a public that is wary of the perceived risks of GM (genetically modified) crops [18] and suspicious about private sector involvement in their country [2,19]. Despite high levels of trust among agbiotech partners, the success of their partnership ultimately depends on public acceptance of the end product.…”

“…PPPs are often clusters of partners, local and foreign, that form both formal and informal coalitions and consortia to deal with challenges and opportunities [3]. Considering the specific context of agricultural biotechnology, this paper defines PPPs as any 'collaborative effort between public and private entities in which each contributes to planning, commits resources, shares risks and benefits and conducts activities to accomplish a shared object' [4]. The appeal of PPPs is widely perceived to include research that neither the private nor public sector may conduct independently; access to privately-owned knowledge and resources for publicgood research; new sources of funding directed to public sector research; and novel delivery mechanisms for public technologies [3].…”

Building effective partnerships: the role of trust in the Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa project

“…Agbiotech PPPs often face skepticism and resistance due to the public's lack of trust in genetically engineered crops and the involvement of the private sector. While the public sector views the intentions of the private sector with suspicion [20,21] due to fear that multinational biotech companies seek to take advantage of poor nations [22], the private sector views the public sector as slow and inefficient and resistant to change [21].…”

Improving Communication in Agbiotech Projects: Moving Toward a Trust-centered Paradigm

“…However, one of the challenges to the successful implementation of agbiotech PPPs is distrust between the public and the private sector partners (Spielman & Grebmer, 2006;. This distrust has been attributed partly to failure on the part of the latter (who are the technology developers and promoters) to target their communication efforts at building and fostering trust with the public; rather, they simply pass to the public facts about the technology.…”