This project is committed to research, policy analysis, and dissemination of knowledge about the ongoing activities of African descendants throughout the world. This AID-funded project involves management of a comprehensive biotechnology program whose principal objective is the deployment of genetically improved crop varieties into developing countries.
Primary focus is on insect and virus resistance using genetic engineering.
This AID-funded project, begun in 1978 with a planning grant and implemented in 1980 through 1997, is a program of coordinated projects in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, addressing hunger and malnutrition through research on the production and utilization of beans and cowpeas. This research also benefits US producers and consumers as it is relevant to similar domestic problems. This program, self-financed by the participating institutions, evolved from a 1978 visit to MSU by a delegation of leaders from the People's Republic of China. Its objectives are to facilitate faculty understanding of agricultural and food systems in China, and to encourage collaborative research linkages between CANR and Chinese scholars and researchers. Collaborative research includes exchanges of scholars and students from several Chinese research institutions, and several joint research projects such as wheat improvement, swine nutrition, poultry science, animal breeding and potato genetic improvement.