R&D Ecosystems
Building the Science Infrastructure Africa's Agriculture Deserves
Closing Africa's agricultural R&D gap requires more than funding. It requires building the ecosystems where innovation can take root and scale.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contracted Baobab Impact to develop a strategic framework for building continent-wide agri-food R&D ecosystems in Africa. Africa attracts a disproportionately small share of global agricultural R&D investment, the funding that does flow tends to sit in underfunded national institutions, and much of the research that gets done is disconnected from farmers' realities and poorly integrated with global knowledge networks. Baobab Impact mapped the full architecture of a functioning R&D ecosystem (institutional capacity, funding models, public-private collaboration, regional knowledge networks, and the pathways that translate research into farmer-level impact) and set out the sequenced investments and reforms required to build it.
Taken together, the framework gives African governments, funders, and research institutions a shared blueprint for closing the continent's agricultural innovation deficit and accelerating the adoption of locally adapted technologies. It also makes a clear case for shifting Africa from a consumer of global agricultural science to a confident producer of it.
Our Work
Working for agri-food system transformation
in Africa.
NAVIGATE
Who we are
Services
Initiatives
© 2026 Baobab Impact
Nairobi, Kenya
R&D Ecosystems
Building the Science Infrastructure Africa's Agriculture Deserves
Closing Africa's agricultural R&D gap requires more than funding. It requires building the ecosystems where innovation can take root and scale.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contracted Baobab Impact to develop a strategic framework for building continent-wide agri-food R&D ecosystems in Africa. Africa attracts a disproportionately small share of global agricultural R&D investment, the funding that does flow tends to sit in underfunded national institutions, and much of the research that gets done is disconnected from farmers' realities and poorly integrated with global knowledge networks. Baobab Impact mapped the full architecture of a functioning R&D ecosystem (institutional capacity, funding models, public-private collaboration, regional knowledge networks, and the pathways that translate research into farmer-level impact) and set out the sequenced investments and reforms required to build it.
Taken together, the framework gives African governments, funders, and research institutions a shared blueprint for closing the continent's agricultural innovation deficit and accelerating the adoption of locally adapted technologies. It also makes a clear case for shifting Africa from a consumer of global agricultural science to a confident producer of it.
Our Work
Working for agri-food system transformation
in Africa.
NAVIGATE
Who we are
Services
Initiatives
© 2026 Baobab Impact
Nairobi, Kenya
R&D Ecosystems
Building the Science Infrastructure Africa's Agriculture Deserves
Closing Africa's agricultural R&D gap requires more than funding. It requires building the ecosystems where innovation can take root and scale.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contracted Baobab Impact to develop a strategic framework for building continent-wide agri-food R&D ecosystems in Africa. Africa attracts a disproportionately small share of global agricultural R&D investment, the funding that does flow tends to sit in underfunded national institutions, and much of the research that gets done is disconnected from farmers' realities and poorly integrated with global knowledge networks. Baobab Impact mapped the full architecture of a functioning R&D ecosystem (institutional capacity, funding models, public-private collaboration, regional knowledge networks, and the pathways that translate research into farmer-level impact) and set out the sequenced investments and reforms required to build it.
Taken together, the framework gives African governments, funders, and research institutions a shared blueprint for closing the continent's agricultural innovation deficit and accelerating the adoption of locally adapted technologies. It also makes a clear case for shifting Africa from a consumer of global agricultural science to a confident producer of it.
Our Work
Working for agri-food system transformation
in Africa.
NAVIGATE
Who we are
Services
Initiatives
© 2026 Baobab Impact
Nairobi, Kenya