The state of South Africa's agricultural research leaves a lot to be desired. The Agricultural Research Council (ARC), an institution that was established more than 100 years ago to conduct research, develop human capital and foster innovation, has been haemorrhaging staff due to a lack of funding.

In South Africa, funding for agricultural research appears to be somewhat of an afterthought, unlike in the US, Australia and Brazil, where similar institutions are deemed a funding priority so that they can spearhead cutting edge research and commercial technologies.

Insufficient funding for research has rendered the South African agricultural sector, which has until recently been very strong, unable to compete internationally, according to John Purchase, the chief executive of the AgriBusiness Chamber, an association of agribusinesses promoting competitiveness and profitability in the sector.

The ARC has been dogged by skills flight, hampering progression and continuity as a number of projects have had to be cancelled, according to Purchase.

ARC chief executive Shadrack Moephuli, who joined the institution in the latter part of 2006, admitted that the institution was underfunded, but said it was working on a recapitalisation programme.

"Yes, we are underfunded in terms of the parliamentary grant," he said.

"The financial position of the institution has been my biggest concern since I joined and still remains the biggest concern. That is, of course, if you compare the grant with the mandate of the ARC.

"But we are working on a new business plan that we intend to submit to the minister during this month."

Under the 2010/11 funding plan, the ARC has been allocated a grant of R622.34 million, which is more than double what it received 10 years ago.

However, figures from the Department of Agriculture show that its budget allocations between 2000 and 2006 were flat - about R300m a year. From 2007 to 2009 the allocations showed a slight uptick to about R500m.

"Increments in annual parliamentary grants have remained below 6 percent year on year, which is important to sustainably manage the impact of inflation on our resources," Moephuli said.

He added that the net effect of this had been the inability to keep and hire skilled people, which in turn had resulted in a steady decline in scientific publication and other research output.

Purchase said boosting research funding was critical to equip South African farmers to compete internationally.

Jan van Zyl, the head of information and marketing at FNB Commercial Agriculture, said: "Research and innovation is not a once-off event, but a continuous process which requires dedicated resources."

Moephuli said the ARC was there to ensure necessary research support for farmers to produce enough yields to ensure food security. The organisation was working to improve the skills base, particularly in scarce skills in research and technology.