National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) Portfolio Review (1996–2024): Strategic Alignment, Scaling Dynamics, and Institutional Assessment

The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) project portfolio review (1996–2024) was conducted to evaluate NARI’s alignment with its statutory mandate under the NARI Act of 1996. CAPDEV CONSULTANTS LTD was engaged to analyze project data across 28 years of implementation to assess NARI’s Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) transformation, operational footprint, and value chain engagement. The review assumed that programmatic data and historical investments across 28 years were systematically retrievable, allowing for a comprehensive diagnostic assessment of portfolio distribution, spatial targeting, partnership ecosystems, and financial utilization. Thus, the review assessed NARI's strategic direction, identified systemic scaling bottlenecks, noted value chain skewness toward primary production, and provided recommendations on legislative and institutional reforms. Key recommendations hinged on updating the NARI Act of 1996 to include institutional and policy innovations, decentralizing project distribution across underrepresented Agricultural Development Domains (ADDs), strengthening non-state partnership models, and addressing middle-to-downstream value chain nodes.

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Keywords: Portfolio review, Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D), NARI Act of 1996, Value chain, Scaling.