Linking small-scale farmers and upstream research in the cassava biotechnology network: a case of cooperation for food security and poverty alleviation

摘要

The international Cassava Biotechnology Network (CBN) was founded as a voluntary research network in a workshop at CIAT in 1988. The network, which has members in 35 countries, works to develop projects that link small-scale farmers to upstream research through various types of farmer participation in research priority setting, research activities, and decision making. CBN works with cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) as a model crop, because relatively little has been invested in cassava research,yet this crop is an irreplaceable food security resource for millions of people in developing countries in the tropics. It is the most important food crop in a third of the world's poorest countries (FAO/GIEWS, 1995); some 500 million people rely on cassava for food.