EMBRAPA:lnstitutlonal Building and Technological Innovations …ainfo.cnptia.embrapa.br/digital/bitstream/item/154936/1/Embrapa... · 6 EMBRAPA:lnstitutlonal Building and Technological

6EMBRAPA: lnstitutlonal Buildingand Technological InnovationsRequired for Cerrado AgricultureEliseu Alves

Introductíon

A solíd and highly effective institutíon was consídered to be essentíal toachieve the required innovatíons for the developrnent of Cerrado agrí-culture. In thís regard, the Brazílian Agriculrural Research Corporatíon(EMBRAPA) W.;j.S the key entíty in the establishment of a strong innova-tíon systern for Cerrado agrículture. Therefore, this chapter fírst díscussesthe maín principíes that guided EMBRAPA and constituted the core ofthe 'EMBRi\PA model' (Section 6.1). This aspect ís important to showthat EMBRAPA was ready for mature cooperation with the governmentof japan through JICA, which wil! be discussed Iater, A sumrnary of theEMBRAPA developrnent process in terrns of researchers and differenttypes of expenditures follows (Sectíon 6.2). The policy of Cerrado agrí-culture developrnent is briefly explained in order to clarify the role thatEMBRAPAhas been expected to accomplísh ín this context. The govern-rnent of Brazll chose to develop lhe Cerrado, and policies targeting thisgoal encompassed agriculture, ínfrastructure, research, universitíes (espc-dally graduare programs), and rural anel urban ínfrastrucrure. lt was anali-inclusive regional developrnent program (Sectíon 6.3). The chaptergoes on to díscuss what kínd 01' externa! cooperatron would have beenmost eftectíve for EMBRAPA to accompllsh such a role, focusing 011 themos! ímportant íssues that needed to be taken ínto account ín forrnu-lating EMBRAPA's instltution buílding plan (Sectíon 6.4). To deepen rhtsanalysís, Sectíon 6.5 dtstínguíshes lWO types of external cooperaüonlrorn an instltntíon building perspecttve: a 'joining ínstítuttons' typeand a specíalízed type. In this regard, the results of cooperatíon should

139

!40 Elheu Alvt's

be assessed ia terms of two aspects: (a) institurion buíídíng by whichthe recípíent lnstítution becomes prepared to face present anel íuturechaüenges, anel (b) new technology developed through anelits dtssemínatlon to farmers. From this perspectíve, dístínctive charac-tcrisrícs of the EMBRAPA-Japan cooperatíon are discussed (Section 6.6).Finally, concluding rernarks are presented (Sectíon 6.7).

6,1 The 'EMBRAPAmodel' and 1t5 maín prínciples

EMBRAPA's role ís to be ready with answers to socíety's problerns in theIield of agrícuíture. As a rescarch institutíon, EMBRAPA has to answerto society quíckly, because wíthour prompt answcrs, ínvcstrnents wíllno! be or will soem be dísconunued. Let us look into thefundamental principies that guided EMBRAPA's development. í

For a research institute such as EMBRAPA to be successfuí, it shouldhave an organizatíonal model that is tlexlble and free Irorn bureaucraticburdens, The organízation must be tree to tormulate. adjust anel manageíts budget, to select its prinrltíes anel carry OU! research, anel to íorrnulateand adrníníster íts hurnan resources policies; iherefore, a publlc corpo-ration rnodel wa: chosen for EMBRAPA according to the laws 01' Brazil.E~íBRA.PA's geographícal scope was to encompass all of lhe nationalterritorv, and it was to carry our research cooperation wlth other COlmo

tries. Moreover, research cornpetent anel so ít wasnecessary to províde appropnate traínlng and to pay competltíve wq.ges.Theinstitute's leadership needcd to be at an ínternational level, To beproductive, researchers need libraries anel up-to-date laboratories, both01'which had to be integrated with advanced global research centers, Therecruiting and promotlon of researchers had to be accordíng to merít,based on objectíve evaluatíons. lt was essential to establish a researchcareer path that chajlenged talent, rewarded good work, and offeredthe condlrions for cornprehenstve dedícatíon to research. In research,the scarcest resource ís lhe researcher's time. Laboratoríes, líbraries, andresearch support all have the role of muítíplylng the researcher's time.Bureaucracy exercises an oppostte eífect, anel for thís reason it had tobe minimized. The uníts of researrh (research centers) needed to eftec-tively explain thernselves to researchers anel socíety: they had 10 avoídthe díspersion of efforts, and tacílitate ínteractíon arnong consumers,farmers, and agrí-busínesses.

To Iollow these principies, EMBRAPA established national centers,cach of whích took care of a Iimited number ot prevíously establishedpriorities. As a result, society, farrners, extension workers, and authorttíes

EMBRAPA 141

all knew whích conter took care of what products, such as soybeans,corn, rice, and beans, and whích center was responsíble for lhe Cerradoand advanced bíology research. This rnodel facilitated the evaluation ofsuccesses and íaílures, anel helped farrners to díscover lhe technologíesand knowledge they wanted, anel evaluations anel promotíons becameconnected to lhe productíve lífe of the researcher.

The organizational tines of authority are well defined in EMBRAPA,anel its directors are free to enforce the rules, wlthout partisan or third-party ínterference. Research fundi og is drawn from the national treasury,anel treasury anel budget authoritíes had 10 be aware of the economícvalue of research rel ative to other ínvestments, To cornmunícate wíththe authoríties. research institutions require econornísts wíth high-leveltraining to establish commurucatíon channels ín appropríate language,anel the knowledge of research ímpacts is cruclal to 5110w how researchínvestrnents rauk with alternatives. journalists are also very ímportantln terrns of building a positive institutional image, and so they are aithe sarne level of importance as lhe researchers rhemselves, and requlretraining anel resources to develop their work. Researchers rnust have

,. access to the international research communíty, and the rescarch budgetshould finance intemational travei, [oint projects wíth tnternatlonalscicntists, ~nd Internet use.

Research institutions do no! grow without lhe support anel respect ofpolítlctans, party leaders of different ideological shadings, consurners,and government authorlties. Legislation should encourage partnershipsfor mutual benefít between publíc and private research, free from legalrlsk. Finally, partísan polítlcs anel ideologíes cannot dictate researchprtorlties, research methods, anel the choíce of member s 01' the boardof directors.

6.2 Development of EMHRAPA

The above provided a condensed discussíon of EMBRAPA's fundamentalprinciples, which this section rounds out wíth data on the síze of itslabor force, expendltures, how it covers Brazll geographícally, anel itsinternational agreernents.

EMBRAPA's labor force includes researchers anel research supportpersonnel. Tliere are also severaí types o! arrangement, of a short-terrnnature, aimed at traíníng students anel non-students, but only if theyhave recently graduated, The detailed data document researchers andresearch support personnel: those who have had long-terrn contractswith EMBRAPA. Although short-term personnel are very lmportant for

142 eUseu Alves

EMBl1J\I'A's their numbers flucíuate a gn:at deal from rnonth to!1!\JU111, and hence rhe díscussion here concentrates on researchers and

We divide lhe from 973 to 2010 imo three sub-periods.ln the 1973-J 990 suo-uenoo EMBRAPA PYn:,n<lpt1 VlítOI:OtISlv: its laborforce grew therewas d reductíon tor two admtn-ístratíon chose more efficient methods tu handle support personnet:and as a consequence 01 the crises, expenses had 10 becut: in order there was no other than to reducethe nurnber of This difficult lasred from1990 to whích constitutes the second recovery thenrollowed in the third whích continues to the AsE:tvíBRAPA to Brazil's its will advanceat than in the to demands.

short-terrn students Irorn the agrarlanand theír must be undertaken

outside the instirutíons or in thethe course of their carry out work

biji seníor researchers. ln there '.'vere a total of otwhom JSS were postgraduate students. 10 December 2010 EMBlv\PA. had

emptovees, and 50 +he shcrt-terrn accounted forpercent, or about one-third of íts labor force

Hegar(jing researchers 6,SUiJ'LlerlOCJS noted grow of the labor force from 1

cut Lu '1lim),.w!· personnel berween 1990 anelO'1','1',,,,.+h ín the nurnber of researcners: a recovery

frorn 2006 to at a pare anuroonate for a HJatUlT institution wherepace with dcmands.

EMBRAPlI.

üíustrates ctleto

with

scienceuniversitles graduated professíonals at the Bachelor of Sciencesleve] but Elv!BRAPA with Master's anelPrL anel it in Brazíl anel tu

the Master's anel Ph.D, Ievels. The program wasso successful that a of EMBRAPA researchers were Ph.D.s

December 2010. The EMBRAPA program !lOW takes cano 01

because Brazilian uníversitles offer l1LHI'(I1JaJ.ltv"""H' '6 aI tlre Master's aud Ph. 1), level.íevel traíned to or to any other instírutions lha!wish to hire there ís no reason for EÉv1BRAPA lnvest in

ín a lirnited nurnber

EMBRAPA 143

12000

800010000

0~-.rrT>".-rrrT"",rrjr'TjT"j"'j~lrr,rIT1T""",rrlr'TIT'TI,'~

600040002000

Figure 6.1 Trends tn Lhe number oí researchers, research support staff, and allemployees of EMBRAPASt)IIf'Ce: AUtJ1Cf,

2,000l1,800·1,6001,4001.2001,000 I:1..1/

200 IT~re-',~r,·,-~~r;-r~rT~~-~~rT'-~-r"rT-,·'ri~'~=r4

..

\i) I'- a:> á; C') ({) r-; a; o <:\l "" W <:O o C\I «r w <:O ot'-- I'- I'- <:O co a:J cc a; '" '" a; a; o o o o o ~a; a; O) O'l ffi ffi (J) O> Q) Q) a; O) C) o o o o o o~ .- ~ ~ ~ •... .- ~ .,... ..- N C\I C\I N (\J (\J[------ ~BS--MsC PhD..-..~....--......-....-...-..... __ .._ .._---_ .....• -._ ......... _ .._ ..._ .....

Figure 6_2 Nurnber of researchers by graduate qualíflcations: BS, Masters, andPhI)Soun:«: Aurhor.

ln December 2010, DvIBRAPA's laborforce comprlsed 9,248 employees,splír berween 2,215 researchers (24 percent) anel 7,033 researchsupport personnel (76 percenr). Of the researchers, 1,775 were Ph.D.:>(80.1 percent), 421 had Master's degrees (19.0 percent), and 19 were at

144 Eliscu Alws

the BS leve] (0.9 percent). The graphíc shows that ElvlBRi\PA'Sresearchstaff are convergíng toward beíng Ph.D. only. Looking at these numbers,one can see the three sub-períods, the success of the traíníng program, thecur in upport personnel, and the preservatícn of researcher posítíons.

Figure 6.3 shows the yearly variatíon In the rate of EMBRAPA expendi-tures as a percentage of the GDP of the agriculture sector, The GDl' shareline traces lhe behavíor aí the actual rate overtime. The other Iine showsan index rate equal to 1 percent, on lhe assumpnon that total expendí-tures 011 agricultura! research as a share of the agricultural GDP shouldequal at least 1 percent Since the data do not cover expenditures by srateresearch instltutions, federal uníversíues and institutes, ar prlvate secrorresearch organízaüons, this record shows Brazíl to be in a Iavorable posí-tíon. There was vígorous anel contlnuous growth in EMBRAPA's expendí-tures in íts first decade, frorn its beginuíng to 1982/ whích was followedby a strong fali in 1983 and 1984 due to macro-econorníc adjustrnents,EivfBRAPA'sexpenditures as a share of agricultura! CDP then began tomove up again and exceeded the 1 percent mark in 1991, Ia 1992 theshare dipped, then rose to reach the peak of the sedes ín 1996, h

above the 1 percent mark in the period trom 1995 to 2001. Agam(~e macro-economic adjustrnents, EMBRAPA's expenditures as a shareot agricultura! GDP fell until 2003, anel then moved up agaín to exceed1 percent in 2009 and 2010.

The data show that the government lias tended to align the growthof EMBRAPA's budget to growth in the GDP of the agnculture sector,Díps in the leve! of expenditures were consequences of rnacro-economic

1.601.40

1.201.00-0.80

0.600.400200.00 -···T··T····r-T-·T~·r·'T-··r~-"f ..r"VT"T"'Tm"!,"'V'l"

~ 1e ~ g * ;i; iil ~m m m 01 m '" C) '",- ,- ..-

··r····'I··vT·"·Tv·~r··-r'Ti···"l·-rv· ....T""l···T·vT~r-·r-"I" i , i , i

o (\j V <D co o N V eo ÇQ o'" m m O) O) o o o o o ~m m m m m o o o o o o,- ,- ,- ,- N N N N N N

Figme 6.3 EMBRAP;\ expendíturcs as share of agrtcultural GDPSoutcc: Author,

EAfBRAí~4 145

cutswere 11111CI\ Iess severe thanthose of other This ís a clear índícatíon of lheimoortance that econorníc authorities ia Brazíl ascríbe to Inconsideration of modernization.

The overall anel item-wise trends inshown in divided between emnloveesline from the cosrs ünvestmenrslíne Eram the and operatíonal expendtrures tuav-to-oav expendi-tures in of research the third Une from the"vn,xnri 1f, "N'C corresoond to the 'Total' Iíne ín the

similar to that showí nz exnendíturesof GDP whích ÍS ao addítíonalfavor of the thesís lha! Brazíl's federal 1$sensitíve to >:lI..IVV UI

Lu the sector ín resources to EMBRld)A.As cuts did no! touch researchers, and there

were srnall increases ín their nurnbers lhe of reducedbudzets. This carne at the expense 01' resources for and opera,tional exuenditures. reducíng EI"'HlR.APNs to carry ou! research.In some years, labor force to total

Recent gOVC1TH10CI'11 from 2002 onward,have been t4evoted to overcomlnz this weakness in EMBRAPA's

EMBRAPA ís now lhe leader 01' the of /\.QTif'ullu!rc

cultural research with ín

are

in

2.50

1.50

2.00

1.00

0.50

0.00~ ie (C o C\) ~ <O (C o C\) ~ <O (C o N ~ tO co or~ r-, <O cc ro ro IX) d) m O) m O) o o o o o ~m m J) m o: a, m C) O) c» m m J) o o o o o o,- ,- ,- C\) N N N C\) C\)

6A 'Irends ín total ano item-wise ElvflH1J\rA expendíturesSm,m:e: Author.

research centers covermz ali arcas 01 lhe nation, and 4 services unlts,for a total 0147 units. ln addition to rhere 14busíness offices, Outstde there are 5 virtual laboratories IJ .•.tLH;;AJ,

ín rhe United anel and 6 in Ghana,:'>f'!w\,'al. venezueía. anel Panama. There are 17 state

with research anel exrension

nl'l\/;·,r.· unlversitíes,rnultinationals.

trequent partnershíps wíth srate andsome of thern

(},;3 Poücíes to df"vc'lon Cerrado asrrtculturthe role of E~fBRAPA

ane!

The Cerrado accounts for 2,5 """,'cln} oí lhe area of and isfound lu lhe Cenrral-West to the 19605 exrensive cattle""""""1<1 was the domínant in lhe conte xt of an uriderdevel-

The soil ís pcor and and ot in lhernaln risks the orocuctíon

modern h one of the mos!;"""Hi:An sciences. lt 15not the ohíe('tÍ\if' of this sectíon

complete h,dr",,, of modern Cerrado but tonote some facts that are relevant to I<HJarHJr2lz11 agricultura! research

the Cerrado.\VirIl lhe of Brasilia in

undertook construction of il railroadto lhe rnain cities of the ,,,,,ti,,,,,·.,,

and Northern lt built ',i,'nnrh' and a communicatíons infrastruc-ture. The federal also a.very program of credltto the 01 the soil anel lhe developrnent(li modern was very low ín lhewhich was an trom lhe Southern anelSoutheastern to the localruuch !IIC)fe advanced in tenns 01 modero 0>"";"'.1"

sole! their arcas, themmodern Few amongthe local 'rnoved

to becorne rnodern Iarrners. Modern anel aníncllnation to take risks morivated lhe to search for advanced

research centers anel to take of subsídizedtheir work. The Cerrado is thus a case 01

íarmers trom more advanced sgro-rather than lhe local anel thís 15a that

The conquest

nomic

EMHRAl'A 147

cannot be overlooked in dealing wlth Afríca. In this process, the localpopulation benefítted from rechnology and experíences of those newlysertled farrners.

Cerrado research ranked high as a research príoríty of EMBRAPA,and still does SO. ElviBRAPA established ímportant research centers ínlhe Central-West regíon: in Brastlia, lhe Cerrado Agricultura! ResearchCenter (CPAC; specífíc to the Cerrado), the National VegetableResearch Center, the National Genetic Resource and BiotechnologyResearch Center, and the headquarters of E:vfBRAPA; outside Brasilla,the Rice and Bean National Research Center in Goiânla, and lhe BeefCattle National Research Center ín Campo Grande (1"15).The Com andSorghum National Research Center is outside the Central-West regíon.but within the Cerrado, ín Sete Lagoas (MG). The Soybean NationalResearch Center played a very important role in developíng soybeanvarieties adapted to low latitudes such as the Braztlian Cerrado. anelwíthout thern, the developrnent of the Cerrado soybean crop wouldnot have occurred. New wheat varieties adapted to the Cerrado alsoplayed an important role. The national research centers for soybeansand wheat are in the Southern regíon, in Londrina (rA), and PassoFundo (RS)/ respectívely, The Dairy Cattle National Research Center,located ín Juiz de Fora (MG), is also investing resources in improvingrnilk productíon in the Cerrado. Moreover, the federal govemmentestablíshed uníversítíes anel Master's and Ph.D. prograrns lu all thestates in the Central-west rcgion: Federal Distríct, GO. TO, MG, andMS. H provided research incentives to uníversltics and research insti-tutes to fínd solutlons to problerns of the Cerrado, and hence a stronganel diversified research network was created and developed in theCerrado rcgion,

Collaboratíons with japan, the Uníted Stares, trance, the worldBank, and the lnter-Amcrican Developrnent Bank were ver)' irnportant,as well as with the Intemational Centers within lhe orbit of the CGIAR.The development of the Cerrado is a case of success ín ínternatioualcooperation: between. governments, research rnstitutíons, universittes,anel international centers, But lhe japanese cooperatlon was uníquein the sense of lnstítutíon buílding: of [otning the researchers anelresources of the two countries to develop a particular regíon. [I was acase of cooperation where the two sides worked together wíth the sarneobjectíves.

ln the 1970s, hígh grain anel meat prices were instrumental in thetake-off of the Cerrado programo When prices fell, the developrnent ofthe Cerrado was firmly 00 the way, without any chance of retreatíng.

148 Eliscu

6A E?víBRAPA'schallenges and the expected role ofexterna! cooneratíon

This IS the context in which mternational betweenErviBRAPA anel multilateral and bilateral carried out. Themost relevant is when anel how external can

said to which can be as follows.

The lC',llJlCtll instirutíon becomes nreuaredíts mandare, and learus 10 discoversolve thern.At the of the cooperatíon,srand on its OVVIl feet.The external anel

challenges ofnrl'H,',i"<r oroblems and how to

mstítutíon leams to

instítutíons both

Beíore lhe start of externa] cooneratíon it ls imnortantlhe 01' the insütution. The followinzlooked aí in ao instítution DLlHC1,1ng

'41) lhe boítlenecks 10 lhe way oí the externa] C(1)p;Cra!Ue)!1.: these canmclude a lack 01 anelcultural

problerns of

of the instltution.probíerns of the instítution s capací tv to

concentuai basis of the "E"H.U''''''', and how compatíble thisronceptual basis is with itsThe how flexíblethe of the institution.The flexibilíty to manage lhcdemands.'file to manage personnel, and identlficatton oíbureaucratic resrnctions.The rescarcher careertive wagcs and cornpensatlon.

15,and how adheres to

and to reaílocate H to new

and

are to those whot1011s, anel are selections baseei on meri II Are íack of merit andwrongdoing used to disrnissals?

to corumunicate with at anelwíth the anel its

flexibility to rnodel lt, and competi-

EMBlMI'A 149

(11) The capacíry to establísh research príorltíes.(12) The capacíty to formulare a research program, consíderíng budget

restríctíons, anel the authority to carry it out,(13) The competence to evaluate ltself, to estimate rhe returns on its

investmcnts, anel to communícate íts results 10 socíety, authorltíes,anel important leaders.

(14) The capacíty to convince governrnent and the prívate sector tomaíntaín anel to increase its budget.

(15) The abílíty to relate to lhe world of polltics based on the principiesof mutual respect anelíndependence.

(16) Híring anel promotlons reward cornpetence and loyalty to theinstitutíon.

(17) The selection 01' managers for research uníts rewards merit andmanageríal cornpetence.

(18) The competence to relate to ínternatíonat research insututions,uníversttíes, and lhe prívate sector.

(19) The potential to retaín outstandíng researchers on lhe staff',(tO) Physical mfrastrurrure: buíldings, laboratoríes, experimental üelds,

ele.

In this regard, lhe concept of institution building is consídered to beparticularly írnportant. We distinguish two diíferen t concepts: rnstítutionbuíldtng refers to a set of actions that are performed to change the struc-ture of an organízation, or to add to íts capacíty to do more of the samethlngs in the sarne way. One example of the latter case ts when labora-tory equíprnent is supplied by a donor country,

In lhe first case, there may be changes tn the organízational model,in the processes 01' setting priorities, planning, executíng research pla os,conductíng evaluatíons, anel díffusíng research results. lt rnay invotvesetting researcher career paths, prornotlons, and wages so as to rewardcompcrent work and to stimulate talented researchers. It rnay be neces-sary to srrengthen the capacity of til!" organlzation to communícate withbudget authcrities, and with executive ano legislatíve powers, 01' it may bea case of improving communicattons with the media at lhe local, regional,and natíonal levels. The relationshlp with privare research 01' with ínter-national mstírutlons rnay need anenüon, ar ínfrastructnre may be lackíngor requíre reíorms. Whlch of these ítems receíve attennon depends 011 thenature of the problern, 0111he recípient institution, and on the arnount ofmoney that wlll be invested in the cooperatíon. An extreme case wouldbe one ínvolvíng an all-encornpassing change by whích a new ínstltutionemerges, and this was lhe case with F.MBRAPA.2 Such extreme cases are

150 Eliseu Aivc,

rare: it ís more conunon to change selected points in the strucrure of anorganízatton. One interestíng case is to center the cooperatíon ín a fewresearch uníts, anel to focus it wíthín a regíon. The ]1CA-EMBRi\PA coop-eration focused on the Cerrado and was concentrared ín a few EMBRAPAresearch uníts anel state research anel extension organízatíons.

lu the second case noted above, hurnan or financial resources areprovided to enhance the capacity of an organízatíon to do more of thesame things in the same way: lhe structure of the organlzation ís notchanged. This is weaker type of instltutíon buílding, which involvesenlargíng the capacity of an institutlon to do research. without changingits qualíty, ln lhe real world, the two types are present ai the sarne time.Ir the lnstltutlon Is mature, more weíght will be placed 00 Lhe econdcase; howcver, the first case is more common.

ln every lnstítution, small changes are always occurríng, and they maybe positive or negatíve in character. However, by 'lnstítution buílding'we mean purposeíul changes desígncd to improve Lhe organizatíon,anel they are visible and sízable. Instítutlon buildíng may exist wlth orwithout externaI for Insrance, Lhe decísíon to transforrnNational Agricultura! Research Department into EMBRAPAbel,j,mged exclusívely to Brazil. After its inauguration, EMBRAPA sougnttechnícal and financia] assistance Irom many places: interuationalbanks, other countríes, research institutions, universíties tn Brazil andabroad, and Brazílían ünancíaí ínstituüons, via Studies anel Projec1Finance Organizations (FINEPs).

6.5 Types of external cooperatíon from an instltutionbuíldíng perspectíve

Two types 01 external cooperation can be distinguished, as detaíledbelow.

(a) Ioíníng instítutionsThe cooperatíon agency (country, institution, etc.) sends staff thatjoin the statf of the recípienr organízatíon under its rules of admín-ístratíon. Specialized coordtnation may exíst to íacílítate cornmu-nícatíon between foreigners and local natíonals. anel among thetoretgners themselves. From that polnt 00! ali acttvltíes are [otntlyplanned and carrled out: as ir there were ao informa! rnergtng oflhe agencies into a lnstitutíon for the purpose 01' the objec-tíves oí the project. The resutts 01' lhe work belongto both parties: lt makes no sense !o IrI' to separate thern. There

flvfRRA PÁ I S1

are many spillover effects from one party to the other, which workagaínst splíttíng the outcomes of lhe project.

Coopcratíon encompasses extemal and interna! funds: the COUIl-

terpart funds. [o general, the research prograrn is carried out in therecípient country: íf convenient, part of it can be performed in thedonor country, or even ln third countríes. The traíníng prograrnmay be carried out ín the recíptent or in the donor country: thelatter applles, ín general, to graduate traíníng. For the acquisittonof laboratory and other types of equipment, the donor part of thebudget rnay be írnported, and part may be acquíred locally, Thecooperation program may concentrate on research, or it rnay moveup a step furiher to take care of technology transfers or even ínvest-ments that Iacilitate lhe adoption of technology by farrners. suchas electricíty and irrigatíon. Ir the cooperauon succeeds, its beneütsextend far beyond the end of the agreemenl. There are a150 spillovereffects into regíons not included in the original agreement. A careíulevaluation of the project requires looking into its results at Lhe endof the agreement and also far ahead in time, in the deííned regtonaud in other regions that rnay have partaken of the benetits. Thereare two types of result: institntional developrnent, by whích lherecípieUt institution becornes prepared to face present and futurechallenges: and research results, They are designed 10 solve tarrners'problems and to modernize agrículture. Therefore. the evaluauonof the project cannot overlook institutional development, the uewtechnology it helped to develop, and the adoptíon of such rech-nology by farrners. The JICA-EMBRAPA projecr exernplifíes thejoinl type of cooperation, frorn which EMBRAPA, the Cerrado, andBrazíl all profíted.'

(b) Specíalízed cooperatíonMost externa] cooperation ís speclalízed in rhemes, anel does not[oín, ín an informal way, two institutions for the purpose of carryíngout the terrns of an agrcement. Jt may be a case ln which a foreígnuniversity opens its doors to receíve graduate srudents, anel theprograrn expenses may be paíd by a grant from the donor counrry,by the recípíent country, or by a loan from ínternational banks. At itsown cost, the danar country may send scíennsts to deal wíth specíflcproblerns of rhe recíplent institution, and lhe technícal assistancethat tollows may be of a short- or long-terrn nature. There may bean agreement between two countries accordíng 10 whích lhe devel-oping country can posr a group ot senior scíentísts to lhe developedcountry to work with counterpart sclentists, under lhe urnbrella of

152 Eiiscu Atves

"f.l'CU'" orgaruzanons. This is lhe case of lhe Brazilíau Labex expe-whích can address research 01' mutual inrerest to

Lhe two countríes. However, ao agreernent may no! iuvolvemonetary expendítures: for ínstance, when two ínsritutions, one inUlC country anel Lhe othcr in Lhe country,open their doors 10 allow lhe of among scíen-tistsvia rhe Internet and other rneans 01'comrnunlcation.

Externa] of both nas beco very í,y\nn,r!'lfH to Lhe devel-opment of Eiv!BRAPAanel tn narttcutar to lhe oí researcn

have beco the japanese,lha! oí Lhe lntematíonal Centers

anel that ot iuternational the Worldfor lhe all 01' these were of

in lhe sense that themes and dídwith EI"IBR;\PA III Brazil te} solve a sei 01' research problerns,

for lhe Cerrado, Of

Bank and !DE,lhe specranzeo110t

6.6 Dístíncttve charactertstícs 01:the t~1\iH:j,Rf\r,/\'~Japan

cooperation anel tts results

:1l""íl'H I I 'H'!' took where theaericulrural practtce could ií necessary

lhe of lhe 19705 mos! 01 t hatof land liad been The Cerrado and lhe Amazon

were lhe choices for anel traditíonal xnowteozeanel would have íailed there. Hence. at Lha!Si011 of investmentsín sríence and h",'h,.\"I,A,Y'u·

well understood the Brazilian on",",'nnH"nl

At the same lhedernand, and couseuuenrtv

behind the ofcrlsís emerged in lhe cíties.

rhe needed to increase its to pay inter-national debts aliou! industrialization '1'0 increasefood for which the international urospecrs

needed to increase íts over dOHJCStiC ,,,,,,,,,,n'H',,Iir;n

dornesric and food foranel

potnteo to lhe importancetraditional was

Ip('IH\nlna,: of lhe advancedoowertess to reach lha!countrics would haveThe solution was to invest neavuvwhich resuHecl in the creatíon of Ll.V1DI\ft.I'h, maugurareo.l9n 2.01

Elv1BRAPA 153

Soon afrer cite of íts leadership undersroodthe need to shorten the road to results, because of the pressurefrom "me! the No other way existed than to usethe science accumulated ín the develoned coun-tríes to useful for Brazilían aJ!;'rtCUHUf'C. Fortunately;EMBRAP/\ Iound lhe doors open for this 01'cooperatlon. l)eve'lo!:~ec1counrríes, their universities. research instírutes, anel lhe ínternaüonatbanks understood lhe 01 devetopínr; Braztlíanand ln the 01" lhe '.ACC.I.I'~''''', however,E}<!BRi\PA saw the need for a dífferern of cooperationfar lhe oí instítutlon UllIH.U",>;

rnergmg of two lnstitutlons r one of whích would be and lheínstítutton that would work ín Brazil to deveíop

te(.:!1!1OID2;Y for the The and avfBRAPA understoodlha! lhe best choice was this was

the Braziltan soou after EMBRi\PA's inaugura-tíon in J anel lhe technícal started in L977, The reasons

, for choosíngjapanese cooperar íon were as follows.

other a

Technlcal assístance should consíder and finan-cial resburces to the Cerrado, It should extend theoeveropment of and institutíonal must In"'>1""'_rate those and was to do thls.japanese research was very ln science: in land

and ir; lhe of smau-scaiemachinery for lhe mechanizatíon oí ::lÚ'dr"HH'H''P

lmnorter of food anel its weredi'[!PI,,,jf'V lhe sources of its Iood and Brazíl

(in.cltldjng theírenougn to Iacilitate the líves oí researchers anel

protessíonals in Brazíl.model work and of technical assistance was flexíble to lheof EMBRAPA's of work.

l\.2rranan scíences werewell in some uníversínes,which was an point for the EMBHAl'A programo

(li) very advanced ln researchgovernment of to Iunds for

the 01' research allowed researchers toask new and answered thern without loss 01 time, there-fore ElvlBRAPA's scarcest resource: researcher time.

1S4 Eiiseu Alw5

(i) EMBRAPA was a rnature ínstitutíon. well íntegrated In the develop-ment policies of the Brazilian governrnenr, and conscíous of íts roleto develop Brazilian agrículture, of its weaknesses, and of the needfOI technícal assistance.

(j) Finally, J1C\ expressed íts wíllíngne s and dernonstrated lts readi-ness to sign ao agreement to experirnent in an all-inclusive programof techn leal assístance to develop the Cerrado.

The Braztl-japan cooperatíon ernbraced research, extensíon, rural credit,and ínvestrnents in electrtflcatlon and írrígatton. The details wíll 110t becovered here, since there is an excellent report that explains lhe conceptof ihe project and how lt was carried out, and evaluates the results."

lhe strongest poínts of japanese cooperation from the standpoíntof instítution building were: rhe group oí outstanding researchers anddedícated assistants that carne to EMBRAPA, anã forrned a harmoníousgroup wíth EMBRAPA researchers to carry out lhe research program: thetraíníng prograrn in uníversíties: thc top-quality Iaboratoryequipment that saved much researcher time and extended the questíonsthat coukí not be answered: lhe support for extension work,research on the environment, soüs. plants, animal dlseases and insecteentrol, and píant breeding, Lhe work with research and extensionorganízations ín MG, BA, MT and GOi and rural credít, electrlfícattonanel irrígatlon fínancing. Most of ali, thanks to the japanese coopera-tion, EMBHArA research units greatly lmproved their abillty to answerthe problerns of the Cerrado,

The Cerrado AgriculturaJ Research Center (CPAC, Centro de PesquisaAgropecuáría dos Cerrados) owes much of what it has achieved to thejapaucse cooperatíon. The cooperauon was also ímporrant for lhe devel-opment of other researchers units, such as lhe Soybean Center (CentroNacional de Pesquisa de Soja), Vegetable Center (Centro Nacional dePesquisas de Hortaliças), and Ceuargen (Centro Nacional de RecursosGenéticos e Blotecnología).

Clearly, DOt all lhe success of the projeci can be attributed to thejapanese cooperation, but lhe joínt project was fundamental in devel-opíng EMBRAPA's research capacíty, and the technology generated byEMBRAPA paved lhe way for the growth of production ín the Cerrado."

6.7 Concluding remarks

japanese cocperation has been very useful to Ei'v1BRAPAdeveloprnent. lihelped to huild Cerrado research, anel lhe research results contributed

EA1BRAPA. 155

to the development of agriculture in the regíon. 10 terrns of the totalCerrado share of the national population and land area, Cerrado agrt-culture has perforrned very well. Since the data Indicare a pattern ofdevelopment Iargely based on productivity írnprovernent, ít is clear thatnew teclmology was the main drívíng force of development. Moreover,the increase in yields saved Iand. In this sense, the development of theCerrado has been friendly to the environment (Martha et al., 2012).

The full irnpact of japanese cooperatíon had much to do wíth theCPAC. Under the [oint leadership of CI'AC-JICA, the cooperatíonextended to other EMBRAPA units and state research organízations. Itsucceeded in generaiíng rhe technology needed to modernize agricul-ture and ls an excellent exarnple of instltution buílding, by whlch twocountríes [oin hurnan and financial resources, focused ón one researchuni! and 00 a specíftc regíon - the Cerrado - under a unified cornmand.japanese cooperation was all-inclusive: it dealt with EMBRAPA instltutionbuilding: it [olned Brazil ín creatíng the írnplernentatíon body CAlvlPO,and this company was instrumental in extensíon work and ia settle-

proiects. ]ICA financed electrifícatton and programs.fact that the prograrn encompassed all lhe actívíties required to

achíeve the development goals .- research, extenston, ímplementationof settlemerx projects, electrlficatíon, and irrigation financing - explainsits successes,

One important point attraets attention: the two countries were readyto cooperate: Brazil needed to expand its agrícultural output wíth theminimum ímpact on the arca under cultívatíon, and Iapan wanted todiversífy us ímports. The japanese style of cooperatíon and expertiserecognized lhe ímportance of instítutíon building. As a consequence ofthe [olnt work, EM13RAPAis now competent to face new challenges: ithas learned more in arder to solve problems by ítself: anel both JICA andEMBHAPA have experienced ímmense gaíns.

Notes

1. This sectíon ís based on Alvcs (2012).2. Up to 1973, therc was a research lnstitution in the Ministry of Agrtculture

(now MAPA): the National Agricultura! Research Departmcnt (DNPEA), Thegovernrnent decíded to subject Ir to ao all-encompasslng reform program,frorn the organízattonal model to planníng anel executíng research and tech-nology diffusion. This reform created .EMBRAl'A.

3. !n this spírtt, at bcgínning of the 1960s, Purdue and lhe Federa! Uníversítyoí Viçosa slgned an l1greeme!11 to develop a graduate program, whích wasIínanced by USAlD and the Ford Foundation, and was extended to otheruníverslties.

1S6 Eliseu Alves

4. MAPA and JJCA (2002) [apan-Btaril AgricutturatPrograms ill lhe Cerrado RegiolJ o( Brarii: loint Evaluution Stuâv (Brasília anelTokyo: MAPA and] lCi\).

S. Wha! tne author can do beyond a repor! from lhe vantage point oí 2011 ísto conftrm the real success of the cooperatlon ín ínstitutkm butldíng andto add indírect evidence abour the growth ()f Cerrado agrículrure, whichexceeds that of Brazil as a whole in the case of grains, tomaroes, and beef anddaíry cattle, and whích has had good pertorrnance in carrots and potatoes, asrepresentatrves of vegetablc crops,

References

Alves, Eliscu (2012) EMBRAPA: 'A. successtul case of mstítutional innovatton'in G.13. Martha jr, and j.B. de Souza Fcrrcíra filho (eds), Brazilian Agriculture:Development and Changes (Brasilia: EMBRAPA), pp. 143-160. (This arricle ts arevísed version of an arücle of lhe same title publíshed in Revista de PolíticaAgricoia, year XIX, specíal editiou, july 2010, pp. 64-72.)

Martha, G.B., Jr. L Alves, and E. Contini (2012) 'Land-savíug approaches andbeef production growth in Brazil.' Agticultural Svstems, 110, pp. 173-177.