Potentials and challenges of Participation in Agricultural Biotechnology R and D: A Case for National Agricultural Research Capacity Building

Problem statement: Scientists in National Agricultural Research Institutes and University faculties of agriculture and veterinary medicine were surveyed to explore their participation in agricultural biotechnology research in Nigeria. Multistage sampling was used. Approach: Two Federal universities and two state universities were randomly selected from a list of Federal and State universities. In addition to these, one university each was selected from the four universities of Technology and three Federal universities of Agriculture. Results: Forty three scientists were purposively selected based on participation in agricultural biotechnology research. Nine research institutes were purposively selected based on their mandates. A total of 105 scientists were selected from the research institutes, based on their participation in agricultural biotechnology research. The total number of respondents from the selected amounted to 148. A structured questionnaire was used. Majority of the respondents fell within the medium participation category (63.5%). There is a significant relationship between availability of training/self development opportunities (r = 0.278, p<0.05) and career advancement opportunities (r = 0.348, p<0.05) and participation in agricultural biotechnology research. Inadequacy of electricity supply was significantly related to participation. Regression analysis show that human resources capacities available to scientists had positive relationship with participation in agricultural biotechnology research and development but only career advancement opportunities (r = 0.003, p<0.05) and royalties on findings (r = 0.151, p<0.05) were significant. Conclusion/Recommendations: There is need for strengthening both human resources and infrastructural capacity to increase participation in agricultural biotechnology research in Nigeria.