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ARS usually partners with institutions that have similar research mandates, who can link or transfer technology to end-users. These partners are usually international research centers of the CGIAR, national research entities from sub-Saharan Africa or from outside the region. These partnerships enhance and leverage ARS contributions. ARS also seeks long-term cooperative relationships/partnerships with U.S. and International Organizations with development mandates, such as USAID, in support of efforts where ARS has a comparative advantage in a field of research and where the research in question fulfills or enhances ARS National Programs objectives.
ARS has several mutually beneficial cooperative activities in sub-Saharan Africa in cooperation with national, regional, and international institutions of research and higher education, and many conducted scientist-to-scientist. The following is a list of some of the longer-term activities.
Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP): This USAID – World Cocoa Foundation partnership program addresses the need to support valuable tropical export tree commodities in West Africa, especially cocoa, while preserving and/or restoring tropical forests. In cooperation with USAID, national agricultural research institutions, and other research institutions, such as CIRAD and CABI, ARS supports a variety of activities, including enhancing global germplasm cooperation by developing a global cocoa genetics and germplasm network and a virtual germplasm bank, similar to that for banana and plantain managed by the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP). ARS also supports efforts to map diversity in the important collections in West Africa and trials of biological controls for a serious fungal disease, black pod (Phytophthora megakarya), at the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) facility in Cameroon. Funding is provided by USAID for work approved for the STCP, and by the Agricultural Research Service, Masterfoods, and a network of international research cooperators, including the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), World AgroForestry Centre (ICRAF), CIRAD and others. Formal ARS projects that support these efforts are:
Cooperative Research with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI): To support mutually beneficial cooperative research and scientific exchanges between ARS and the ILRI (Kenya and Ethiopia) and in areas of animal health and production, the Office of International Research Programs executed a specific cooperative agreement with ILRI (2000-2005) to support areas of mutual interest: (1) development of diagnostic tests for tick-borne diseases; and (2) microbial genomics research. ARS Pullman executed an agreement, Combination Vaccines for Tick-Borne Diseases, in 2006 to support research in Kenya to identify novel tick antigens that are expressed in the gut of the tick during feeding or infection. The goal of this work is to control tick-borne disease transmission by developing anti-tick or pathogen-transmission blocking components. These components would be added to vaccines that target both the pathogen and the vector (the tick). This would make the vaccine more effective in preventing transmission, or weakening the infection.
Cooperative Activities Under the U.S.-South Africa Binational Commission: The U.S.-South Africa Binational Commission was established in March 1995 to facilitate bilateral cooperation between the United States and South Africa to ensure that key issues of mutual concern are discussed at the highest levels of government. In support of the commission and its Agriculture Committee, USDA-ARS worked with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa, provincial authorities, universities and small-farm cooperatives to support the goals and objectives of the Commission. A particularly successful program was the placement of South African graduate students in U.S. Universities to complete Masters or Ph.D. programs under the mentorship of ARS scientists. The ARS, University of Colorado, Republic of South Africa Department of Agriculture, and Agricultural Research Council (ARC), with funding and assistance from USAID and the Embassy of South Africa, cooperated in this effort. As a result, 12 South African interns successfully completed either a Masters or Ph.D. degree in agricultural/natural resources research areas by the end of CY-2006.
ARS Projects with Nigeria: ARS’s initial cooperation with Nigeria was established under the Joint Economic Program Committee (JEPC). In 1999, a joint USAID-USDA team traveled to Nigeria to identify potential projects of interest. These projects were partly supported under the USAID Nigeria program through an agreement, coordinated and managed by FAS, between USDA and USAID. The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) was the lead implementing organization in the following projects:
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Maize Enhancement for Improved Micronutrient Value The ARS Soil, Plant, and Nutrition Laboratory, Ithaca, NY, worked with IITA to use new techniques in analyzing micronutrient bioavailability to strengthen crop breeding programs to develop cultivars of maize with higher pro vitamin A, iron, and zinc content in the grain. ARS is supporting IITA’s work in improving the nutritional status of populations in Nigeria by training African scientists to conduct the bioavailability studies through scientific visits at ARS to test samples of IITA maize cultivars. Cooperators identified cultivars that seem to provide slightly higher bioavailable iron. IITA researchers collaborated with ARS scientists at Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, ND in 2005-2006 on a study of Mineral Utilization and Bioavailability in the 21st Century, with Changing Diets and Agricultural Practices.
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Building Capacity for Biotechnology Research and Development The Governments of Nigeria and Ghana identified biotechnology research capacity as a high-priority need for their researchers. The ARS Office of International Research Programs and IITA proposed that well-qualified Nigerian scientists be identified to work in the IITA Cellular and Molecular Technologies Laboratory for training visits of several months each. Each Visiting Scientist submitted a proposal, approved by his/her institution, to conduct research on a specific topic relevant to his/her institution and that addressed an important need of Nigerian agriculture. The training focused on tissue culture, diagnostics, genomics, and transformation techniques. The background of these researchers, areas, and work plans were identified during a workshop conducted at IITA in Ibadan, Nigeria, in 2001. By the end of the program in September 2005, IITA had conducted ten scientific visits. USAID provided funds for this effort through bilateral funds (Nigeria) and the multilateral African Trade Improvement Program (ATRIP).
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