Susan Robertson

1. Exploring Public Private Partnerships in
Agriculture and Agricultural Research
Susan Robertson
IDRC

2. Public Private Partnerships in Agriculture
• Not as common as in medicine – why not?
• Shared risks a key element
• Main strength of public sector/civil society
• Focus on public benefits
• Main strength of private sector
• Market knowledge and access

3. Typology of Agriculture PPPs
• Infrastructure
• Expertise
• Upstream  R&D
• Downstream  value chains

4. Incentives to create PPPs
• Prizes
• World Food Prize
• Payment on delivery
• AgResults
• Pull mechanisms
• New Vision for Agriculture, WEF

5. IDRC’s Engagement
• IDRC and the SFSA
• Began discussions in 2010
• May 2011 meeting in Zurich
• March 2012 meeting in Ottawa
• IDRC’s contributions
• Meeting report
• Commissioned papers on downstream and upstream PPPs

6. Critical Outcomes
• Demand for improved
knowledge based on
current practice
• Consensus on the
importance of private
sector
• Need for evidence of
development outcomes

7. Shared Learnings
• Private firms making long term strategic plans with public
sector working with 3-5 year commitment windows
• Difficulty predicting time commitment / hidden costs
• IP important in both upstream and downstream
partnerships
• Major shift in upstream PPPs to downstream PPPs
• Confidentiality impedes learning from mistakes
• Each partnership is unique

8. Moving Forward
• APXC
• Defining a role for research
• Better understanding of development outcomes
• Better understanding of role of SMEs
• Identifying critical best practices
• Incorporation of intellectual property
• Incentives for private firms to work with neglected and under-
utilised crops

9. Many thanks
srobertson@idrc.ca
www.idrc.ca