Support for innovation in the agricultural policy: Brazil in the international comparison

Abstract

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the evolution of government support for innovation in agriculture in the last two decades according to the analytical framework adopted by the OECD in the Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation series. Such support is expressed as expenditures made and is analyzed in terms of magnitude, participation in the general services support estimate and composition in terms of knowledge generation and transfer. Brazil is compared to individual countries and groups of countries, namely: United States, emerging economies, European Union and OECD member countries. It is shown that the structure of government support for innovation in agriculture varies internationally and that Brazil has a peculiar profile. The variation found reflects historical and contextual differences, organizational configurations and institutional architectures of the system between countries, although they are also influenced by global forces.