Partnering with U.S. Department of Agriculture to Provide Support to the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2009
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have provided support to the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) through capacity-building, technology development and transfer programs since the 1960s. Over the past six years, USAID and USDA have provided more than $4 million to KARI for agricultural technology development and transfer and institutional capacity-building.
USAID and USDA Support to KARI
The agricultural sector has been a core focal area under USAID Kenya's economic growth program for many years, with a primary focus on integrated value chain programs that stimulate market-led growth, competitiveness and smallholder productivity for maize, dairy, horticulture, and livestock. A key pillar in USAID's support to agriculture in Kenya and the region is KARI. Through KARI, USAID focuses on research programs to develop and transfer improved technologies for maize, dairy, soil fertility and biotechnology. This year's program also includes promotion of technologies appropriate for other traditional food crops to help enhance food security in Kenya's agricultural areas with limited rainfall.
USAID's East Africa Regional Mission, along with seven other international donors, supports the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), which includes KARI, for research, capacity-building, and outreach on a variety of topics including biotechnology and the regional harmonization of biosafety standards.
USDA's Agricultural Research Service is sending scientists to Kenya and does research at in the United States to help KARI find ways to control diseases impacting crops in the region to include Rift-Valley fever, Ug99 stem rust in wheat, and cassava mosaic virus. USAID works with USDA on projects that will lead to greater food security if the projects are adequately understood and funded.
Role of KARI in Food Security
The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) is the country's leading agricultural research institute. KARI is well-positioned to play an even greater role in addressing key food security issues by expanding its ongoing efforts to develop and transfer productivity-enhancing technologies for smallholder farmers and livestock producers. Through its network of 22 main research centers and 14 sub-centers spread throughout the country, KARI administers applied research programs on crops, livestock, natural resources management, biotechnology and genetic resource management, socioeconomics and applied statistics, and adaptive research and outreach.
KARI is a lead member of the ASARECA, and maintains close working relationships with international agricultural research centers such as the International Livestock Research Institute, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, the International Food Policy Research Institute, and the World Agroforestry Center. KARI also works closely on research and technology transfer activities with a number of U.S. universities to include Michigan State University, University of Illinois, Cornell University, University of California at Davis, Ohio State University, and Tufts University, international organizations such as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, the Rockefeller Foundation, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Africa Harvest Biotechnology Foundation International, and the African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum, and private sector companies such as Syngenta and Monsanto.
The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.
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