The level of agricultural subsidies also dramatically increased in Indonesia, from $5.5 billion in 2009 to $25.7 billion in 2014. In this context, strengthening research and development is crucial to ensure the realization of that goal. Only limited cross-country comparable data are available to measure research and development in the agricultural sector in Asia and the Pacific. A recent publication on Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) provides statistical information on that topic.a Based on International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) estimates, total research and development spending for the agricultural sector represented $40.1 billion (2005 PPP dollars) in 2008, of which 79 per cent was from public spending and 21 per cent from private-sector research covering spending by seven agricultural input industries: seed/biotechnology, agricultural pesticides, fertilizer, farm machinery, animal health, nutrition, and breeding.