»   Goal

»   Scope and Activities

In most developing countries agricultural research is conducted almost exclusively within public sector institutes. The private sector in many developing countries is underdeveloped or poorly linked to public research institutions. Additionally, government policies may not encourage investment in research-intensive industries, resulting in agricultural companies that instead focus on publicly available or imported technologies. Thus, in contrast to the trends occurring in the U.S. and other developed countries, relatively few researchers in developing countries understand IPR and biosafety and their relationship to biotechnology, and they may also lack experience in dealing with the private sector. Developing countries are realizing the positive impact of biotechnology will depend to a large extent on the ability of developing countries to access and/or generate technology suitable to their needs.

The first question for ABSPII was how to promote the access of developing countries to new biotechnologies that were appropriate to address local and regional agricultural constraints, but which were found in the private sector (or held as proprietary information by the public sector) in developed countries. The second question was how to ensure that biotechnology was not only an academic research pursuit but that it could be applied in the field in a manner consistent with ABSPII goals of sustainability. This raised the importance of biosafety and risk assessment issues, and the development of local regulatory systems along with the capacity to ensure the safety of biotechnology to both human health and the environment.

Goal

The goal is to help boost food security, economic growth, nutrition and environmental quality in India and Bangladesh. The consortium will support the development of expertise in India and Bangladesh in the areas of research, policy development, licensing, and outreach, to help reduce poverty and hunger through Agricultural Biotechnology.
Scope and Activities

To implement ABSPII we:
•	Conduct highly-participatory priority setting activities to ensure that product development is focused on real needs
•	Develop ‘product commercialization packages’ for each bio-engineered crop by geographical site, integrating activities on technology development, policy (including intellectual property), outreach and communication, and marketing and distribution
•	Create an enabling environment for regulatory and legal authorities
•	Foster public-private partnerships to boost mutual incentives and self-sustained, long-term investments
•	Promote improved science-based public awareness of bio-engineered crops
•	Monitor and evaluate the impact of ABSPII activities.
During the project, we expect:
•	Increased agricultural productivity in farmers fields
•	Improved research and development capacities within collaborating institutions
•	Increased understanding by scientists and policy-makers of markets, regulatory environments and commercialization requirements of bio-engineered crops
•	Increased public awareness and understanding of bio-engineered crops that address public needs
•	Enhanced environments for public-private partnerships in the areas of intellectual property licensing and regulatory approval
In addition, the long-term goals of ABSPII are to:
•	Increase agricultural outputs among adopters of new products
•	Improve nutrition due to the availability of more secure and varied food sources
•	Expand rural economies due to both increased farm productivity and to improved market opportunities.

ABSPII will identify and support other USAID initiatives to promote safe and effective agricultural biotechnology in Africa and Asia. For example, successful commercialization of bio-engineered crops will depend upon satisfactory biosafety regulation. ABSPII collaborates closely with USAID’s Program for Biosafety (PBS) project, which focuses on strengthening national and regional capacities in biosafety. The biotechnology impact assessments conducted by ABSPII will provide forward-looking evaluations of the market-level consequences of biotechnology products that will provide a basis for interactions with other USAID-supported trade and development initiatives.