PPP: A pilar of agriculture research

Agriculture is an important driver of economic growth in PNG and it can contribute tremendously to rural development and welfare improvement. For this to be realised, innovative approaches to agricultural development are needed so that such development can bring in improved food security, increased income, and enhanced gainful employment, and all that contributing to improved wellbeing of Papua New Guineans.
In this context, an innovative way through a framework of agricultural research for development (AR4D) is seen to be effective in creating desired impacts at the farmer and community levels.  In this framework well-being of farm families and improved welfare of rural communities are kept up-front and focused for the end results.  The framework incorporates demand driven and stakeholder participatory research and development processes as implemented in the innovation systems context, thus generating necessary outputs and desirable outcomes that result into expected impacts.
To be successful in this AR4D paradigm, four important pillars are necessary and these are

• Good science and applied research;
• efficient knowledge management and information dissemination for effective technology adaptation and adoption;
• congenial policy and institutional environment; and,
• Effective partnerships, collaborations and networking among stakeholders.  Public-private partnership (PPP) is seen as an important building block of the fourth pillar.

PPP entails a collaborative arrangement between public sector agencies (usually sponsored by government) and the private sector bodies.  Within the collaboration, the public and private sectors explore and utilize their comparative advantages to bring in synergies and to complement in each others’ efforts in achieving desired outcomes, with minimum possible adverse implications to either of the partners. This collaboration also allows stakeholder participations by various stakeholders such as NGOs, CSOs, women’s groups, churches, schools and youths – depending on the nature and type of activities involved.
The public sector organisations are broad-based in their mandate, provide public goods, have access to resources such as genetic resources, infrastructure, facilities, skilled manpower. They give appropriate considerations to the long-term issues of environmental sustainability, socio-cultural issues including gender and HIV/AIDS.
The public sector organisations can invest in applied and adaptive research and, also as necessary, in relatively fundamental research and can get engaged in piloting of inventions on an operational scale.  They can also develop and implement appropriate public sector policies that can create congenial environment for the private sector participation.
On the other hand, the private sector brings in efficiency, effectiveness and innovativeness to complement the public sector efforts. They can mobilise capital, management and entrepreneurialism and can be efficient in responding to demand and market forces.  They can take up successfully piloted inventions and up-scale these to benefit from the scale economies and creating multiplier effects in the economy.  The private sector brings in returns to the economy by paying taxes and thus becomes an engine of growth.  They can be dynamic and can respond appropriately to market forces and expressed demands.
A typical example of PPP in agricultural sector can be a nucleus agro-enterprise venture wherein the public sector may construct a road or a seaport, organise farmers, facilitate land tenure, and develop successful improved technologies. While the private sector (organised agricultural companies and firms) may bring in capital, management, entrepreneurship and respond to market demands by producing the demand oriented commodities. This can create demand for inputs and outputs from smallholder agricultural producers in the vicinity, thus making these smallholders efficient and effective.
An example of effective PPP is that research organisations in the public sector in the US have developed the ethanol production technology from corn, while the private sector companies have collaborated in establishing ethanol producing plants and have taken up corn production commercially on farmers’ fields with buy-back arrangements. Research organisations in Brazil have developed ethanol production technology from sugar cane by-products which has been taken up by private investors in establishing many ethanol production plants.
Given the enormous potential and the vast natural resources, stakeholders in the agriculture sector need to consider the approach of PPP.  At present there are a range of inventions available in the public domain. However, the public sector lacks the competitive edge to up-scaling and commercialising the innovations. Collaborative arrangements between the public and private sectors may ignite the process of up-scaling, bringing in scale-economies and thus exploiting the full potential of new and improved innovations. Such collaborations can be negotiated between government agencies, national agricultural research systems, agri-businesses, financers, donors, corporative societies and farmer associations, and individuals.
The concept has been discussed at great lengths in different forums in PNG though. Several attempts were even made however the country is yet to see any that are successful.
For PPPs to be successful, issues of incentive structures, costs and risks, benefit sharing, competition, intellectual property rights, environment and information in the public domain will have to be adequately addressed.