Overseas Aid for Biotechnology in Agriculture

Abstract

Biotechnology could have a tremendous impact on the agricultural productivity of the developing world. However, most biotechnology research for agriculture is in the developed world for the agriculture of developed countries. Overseas aid must be used to help redress this imbalance, and aid agencies must work with both the private and public sectors to do this. This paper describes the great potential of biotechnology for agriculture and gives examples from the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) Plant Sciences Research Programme (PSRP) of the application of funding from overseas aid agencies to biotechnology in the developing world.