Impact of Agricultural R&D on Sectoral Economic Growth

Abstract

Public and private investment in agricultural research and development (R&D) creates preconditions for the implementation of more advanced and better technologies. It enables the introduction of new production processes and products which can result in higher earnings and potential sectoral economic growth in Agriculture. Despite the fact that accelerated agricultural research and development is a catalyst for the beginning of the long-run economic activity, its importance is not widely investigated at regional levels. The East Africa economies have defined strategies that view innovation as an essential element in stimulating growth and job creation. The goal of this study is to establish the role of agricultural R&D in fostering sectoral economic growth of East Africa states. The data used in this research were panel data of the East Africa Countries for the period from 2001 to 2015. The result showed that agricultural sector R&D is important factor in explaining sectoral economic growth in East Africa. Therefore, only innovation through increasing Agricultural R&D expenditure and strengthening institutions can sufficiently drive sustainable sectoral output growth and development in East Africa economies. Thus, East Africa nations need to strengthen and build their agricultural research and development capacity while aligning of policies and procedures of research organizations to achieve sustainable sectoral economic growth.