Crop Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Research and Development

Christian Ebeke and Mireille Ntsama Etoundi

No 2025/249, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: This paper provides new cross-country evidence that greater investment in agricultural R&D significantly mitigates the adverse effects of climate variability on crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this critical role, only a handful of countries have invested at levels sufficient to reach the thresholds where R&D delivers effective risk adaptation. Our analysis indicates that closing this gap would require an additional US$1–3 billion in annual agricultural research investment across the region.

Keywords: Agricultural productivity; Climate variability; Research and Development; Sub-saharan Africa; crop yield; rainfall instability; crop productivity; IMF working papers; yields in sub-Saharan Africa; Climate change; Agricultural sector; Productivity; Africa; Global; West Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28
Date: 2025-12-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-agr, nep-env and nep-inv
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