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U.S. Department of Agriculture
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE
FEDERAL LABORATORIES CONSORTIUM Cumberland,
MD September 14, 2005
EILEEN HERRERA, Agricultural Research Service
CAPACITY BUILDING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
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ARS Mission

• Conducts research to develop transfer
  solutions to agricultural problems of high
  national priority and provide information
  access/dissemination to
• Ensure high quality, safe food/ag products
• Assess nutritional needs of Americans
• Sustain a competitive ag economy
• Enhance the natural resource base environment
  
• Provide economic opportunities rural as a
  whole
• http//www.ars.usda.gov

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ARS Profile

• Partnerships with universities and industry
• International collaboration
• Administration and stakeholder-driven research
  program planning and priority setting process
  multiple inputs
• Base resources and budget increases allocated to
  research priorities
• Congressional limits on reprogramming base
  resources among budget line items, National
  Programs, and Laboratories

• In-house scientific research arm for USDA and
  its customers
• Farm-to-table research mission
• 22 National Programs
• 1,200 projects
• 2,500 scientists and post docs
• 6,500 other employees
• 100 Laboratories (4 overseas)
• 1.1 billion annual budget

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ARS Technology Transfer

• Responsible for
• Protecting intellectual property,
• Developing strategic partnerships with outside
  organizations and performing activities that
  effectively transfer ARS technologies to the
  market place.

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ARS International Activities

• Cooperative international research
• Host International Visitors and Scientific Visits
• International correspondence
• International agreements
• Inter-agency and international fora
• Information on international activities
• http//www.ars.usda.gov/research/docs.htm?docid14
  28

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• ARS research mission and technology transfer
  responsibility establish the basis for ARS
  capacity building activities in developing
  countries.
• In addition, ARS engages internationally in
  mutually beneficial cooperative research

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ARS-Former Soviet Union Scientific Cooperation
Program
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Program Objectives

• Advance agricultural science by establishing new
  expertise in Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries
• Enhance the effectiveness and productivity of ARS
  research programs
• Improve the economy of the FSU through advances
  in agricultural technology
• Reduce the threat of biological weapons (BW)
  development and usage in the world

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Program Funding

• Department of State
• Agriculture
• Defense
• Energy
• Commerce
• Health and Human Services

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Current Projects

• Russia 28
• Kazakhstan 9
• Uzbekistan 12
• Further Information
• http//www.ars.usda.gov/research/docs.htm?docid1
  026

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ARS-Sub-Saharan Africa
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Sub-Saharan Africa

• US-South Africa Cooperation Forum (formerly, the
  Binational Commission)
• Crop improvement, human nutrition - IITA
• Cooperation with the African Agricultural
  Technology Foundation (AATF)

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South Africa

• Research Internship for Early Career South
  African Scientists
• 1998 to 2006 12 RSA interns have (or will have)
  completed Ph.D. or Masters graduate training in
  US universities under ARS mentorship
• Study areas include animal, plant, soil and
  veterinary sciences

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Nigeria Bilateral AID Program

• Assess micronutrient deficiencies market sector
  for fortified products (Dr. Ellen Harris,
  ARS-BHNRC, Beltsville, MD)
• ID crop varieties with higher micronutrient
  content (Dr. Ray Glahn, ARS, Ithaca, NY)
• Dietary improvement and fortification.
• Test best maize varieties in human trial (Dr.
  Janet Hunt, ARS, Grand Forks, ND)

• Micronutrient Enhancement of Maize and Plantains
  in Nigeria (International Inst of Tropical
  Agriculture IITA)

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Cooperation with AATF

• USDA-AATF MOU
• Signed on June 21, 2004
• Broaden cooperative research programs, technology
  exchange commercialization of new crop
  varieties to assist poor, small holder farmers in
  sub-Saharan Africa
• AATF - not-for-profit foundation
• Established in January 2003
• Facilitate public-private partnerships for the
  access delivery of appropriate technologies to
  resource-poor smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan
  Africa.
• http//www.aftechfound.org/

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Initial Areas of Cooperation

• Control of Mycotoxin in food grains
• Cowpea productivity improvement
• Striga control

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Other Programs Cooperative Areas

• ARS-EMBRAPA (US-Brazil) - LABEX
• ARS-CGIAR MOU now to be USDA-CGIAR
• ARS MOUs with Mexico
• CONACyT
• INIFAP
• CIAD
• Colegio de Posgraduados

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Questions?
International Partnerships in Agricultural
Science
EILEEN.HERRERA_at_NPS.ARS.USDA.GOV