Description

Abstract: The Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs) are communities of U.S. Universities, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and USAID missions, and developing countries national agriculture research systems (NARS), other U.S. federal agencies, international agricultural research centers (IARCs), private agencies, industry, private voluntary organizations (PVOs), and other developing country institutions. Their scientists, in close collaboration with one another and for the mutual benefits of their programs, carry out agricultural research and training around identified constraints to food production, storage, marketing, and consumption. More specifically, they include components which address food and agricultural policy/planning, natural resource management, plant and animal improvement (including basic genetics, biodiversity, applied genetics and biotechnology), plant and animal physiology and improved production practices, plant and animal protection, socio-economic and socio-cultural factors influencing production and consumption patterns; cultural constraints to technology adoption and development; and improved food processing, household food security and human nutrition. Through shared resources, peer review and institutional support, these communities of scientists and institutions give emphasis to the needs of small scale producers and the rural and urban poor.