ABSTRACT
Agricultural sciences in Chile: Institutions, human resources, investment and scientific productivity

Alejandro del Pozo1*, Alejandra Engler2, 3, and Francisco Meza4, 5
 
Agricultural science in Chile began in 1881 with the establishment of the Agronomic Station of the National Society of Agriculture (SNA). In this article we described the history and evolution of research and development (R+D) and human capital training in this field. The main research institution, in terms of territory coverage and human resources, is the Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA), along with five regional research centers, specialized in different aspect of agricultural science, and 20 schools of agriculture and 11 doctoral programs associated to different universities. Public investment in agricultural R+D is provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Economy and Regional Governments, reaching around US$200 million in the last decade. The number of researchers in agricultural science is ~ 40 per million of inhabitants (~ 800 in total). An average of 140 projects per year are financed in agriculture R+D by different funding agencies. The scientific productivity was estimated in ~ 0.45 articles (Scopus) per researcher. It is concluded that, although significant progress has been made the last decades, there is still a reduced number of researchers and insufficient investment to face urgent challenges of the agricultural sector in Chile.
Keywords: Agricultural research, doctoral programs, funding agencies, publications, R+D projects.
1Universidad de Talca, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Centro de Mejoramiento Genético y Fenómica Vegetal, Av. Lircay s/n, Talca, Chile. *Corresponding author (adelpozolira@gmail.com).2Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Departamento de Economía Agraria, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile. 3Núcleo Milenio CESIEP, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile. 4Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Centro Interdisciplinario de Cambio Global, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.5Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Departamento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.