Summary

CIAT will host the CBN's Sixth International Meeting on the use of biotechnology tools to add value to cassava, a small-farmer crop of central importance to food security in the tropics. Scientists from advanced labs and NARS from Africa, Asia, South America and Central America will attend the meeting to discuss how biotechnology can assist cassava farmers by developing, for example, more suitable varieties, disease-free planting materials, and better ways to conserve and process cassava after harvesting. This conference will help determine the future of cassava research and will permit cassava scientists from all three continents to share ideas and discuss the implementation of capacity building in developing countries for a range of technologies to be used with cassava.

Goal

To strengthen and speed efforts to maximize the contribution of modern biotechnology tools to the agronomic improvement of cassava and thereby contribute to improved food security in the tropics.

Objectives

• To facilitate dissemination of current information concerning cassava biotechnology, most importantly recent scientific and technical advances in this area.
  
• To promote the transfer of scientific information to cassava researchers through state of the art presentations and exchange sessions.
  
• To inform and educate biotech company representatives as to the importance of the crop in human development and the role of modern biotechnologies in cassava improvement.
  
• To publicize cassava and raise its profile in the world as a primary food crop for the 21st century.

Background on CBN

The Cassava Biotechnology Network (CBN) was founded in 1988 through the initiative of several individual scientists and the CGIAR-sponsored center CIAT (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, Colombia). CBN's mission is to maximise the contribution of modern biology to the agronomic improvement of cassava, a crop of central importance to food security in the tropics. Initial funding was supplied by CIAT, after which a 5 year project to support the CBN was secured from the Dutch government development agency (DGIS). An extension of this funding allowed the CBN to operate fully until the end of 1998. CBN was revived in 2001 under joint sponsorship of the Canadian International Development Research Center (IDRC) and DGIS. Although operating on a smaller scale than in the 1990s, CB continues to sponsor both worldwide and regional activities dedicated to cassava improvement.

The CBN aims to provide a network for enhanced communication between scientists through the organization of meetings, newsletters, reference databases, a small grants program for scientists from developing countries and as an advisor for the preparation of cassava research and training proposals to a variety of agencies. CBN has been internationally acclaimed as one of the most successful organizations of its kind.

One of the most important activities of the CBN is the organization of scientific meetings to exchange state-of-the-art knowledge. These CBN International Scientific Meetings are held every other year in a different cassava producing country, and include field trips to cassava fields, processing facilities, factories and farmer cooperatives.

Past scientific meetings included:

CBN-I 1992: Cartagena, Colombia
CBN-II 1994: Bogor, Indonesia
CBN-III 1996: Kampala, Uganda
CBN-IV 1998: Salvador, Brazil
CBN-V 2001: St. Louis, USA

Subjects to be Explored

CBN-VI's program (attached) will consist of keynote addresses, plenary sessions, panel and poster sessions covering the following subjects:

• The future of biotechnology in developing countries
  
• How to add value to cassava
  
• Innovative approaches in R&D for cassava
  
• Biodiversity and IPR/Biosafety
  
• Cassava nutritional value
  
• Abiotic and biotic stresses
  
• Transformation and transgenics products
  
• Small farmers and research planning
  
• Tools for cassava breeding
  
• Toward cassava biotechnology's next phase

In addition, there will be visits to cassava fields and CIAT's laboratory and processing facilities.

Beneficiaries

• Output from this meeting will benefit plant biotechnologists and cassva breeders of NARS from Latin American, African and Asian countries where cassava is a staple food. The scientists will, in turn, transfer the information and technologies to cassava farmers, processors and consumers.
• NARS scientists will establish stronger ties to the network, in which they can benefit from the cassava genotypes, available for sharing and adapted to different environmental constraints that limit cassava production in many producing countries.
• The ultimate beneficiaries will be the small-scale farmers who can improve their income, and thus their standard of living, adding value to cassava through biotech tools explored in this meeting.

Continuing Network Activities

Planning for the future of cassava research is an important focus of this meeting. CBN will be able to outline its next phase toward the invigoration of its activities in both regional and global frameworks, articulating a common vision to move the research forward. All the outputs from this meeting will help the network to progress, for the next 2 years, in its three main complementary thrusts:

• Priority setting and evaluation through the strategic use of social science to ensure that the end-users have a real voice in decision-making in the development and implementation of biotechnologies;
  
• Technology diffusion by further adapting key biotechnologies together with small farmers by public sector research;
  
• Information to promote awareness building/dialogue among scientists and end-users of the opportunities and constraints inherent to biotechnology