LAUSR

The agro-food sector is an essential sector striving to satisfy the increasing demand for agro-food products worldwide. Accordingly, the Food Systems Summit has made a significant effort to heighten social and political awareness about the future food systems' role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda by 2030. Several research studies provide supporting evidence that research and development (R&D) investment is a key factor among others that contribute to enhance agricultural productivity growth and to generate high value of research return (Alston et al. 2010). However, a limited R&D budget, in both developed and developing countries has led to seriously underfunding of some emerging agro-food research areas. The recent COVID-19 crisis may have exacerbated this phenomenon.