Technical Brief: USAID to Re-Engage in Supporting National Agricultural Research Systems

The USAID Bureau for Food Security (BFS) has made available this Technical Brief on USAID'role in Supporting National Agricultural Research Systems. USAID has launched its Feed the Future (FTF) program, which aims to address the root causes of hunger and poverty and which recognizes the importance of agricultural research as a critical (although not sufficient) input towards the solution in the longer term. Moreover, it is an input that has been relatively under exploited. While international and regional agricultural research initiatives are definitely needed, the weakest link in getting improved technologies to farmers and others in the food system is a lack of national agricultural research (and extension) capacity.