The article emphasizes that for the innovative development of the Russian agricultural industry and ensuring the national food security, it is necessary to create a research and development sector in the field of food production; reform the education system for the innovative development of the agricultural industry; re-equip the agricultural industry; build a system of agricultural advisory support for producers; create an intellectual property protection system; improve legal standards for regulating innovation, research and development; pay attention to the needs of agriculture and agro-

The publication reviews forty years of development experience and concludes that donors and partner countries alike have tended to look at capacity development as mainly a technical process, or as a transfer of knowledge or institutions from North to South.