Networking is a way to multiply the impact of individual research and training programs located in different regions of the world. It thus acts as a catalyst to optimize resources, encourage collaboration, identify priorities, and direct efforts appropriately.

ILTAB was a founding member of the Cassava Biotech Network (CBN) which acted to maximize collaboration and research activities in cassava biotechnology between 1990 and 1998. The success of the CBN and the growing concern over food production and population growth in the developing world convinced us that research on other tropical food crops could also benefit from a coordinating activity.

ILTAB will participate in the establishment, with the contribution of other scientists, of the Global Science Consortium for Food in the 21st Century (GSC21). The aim of the network will be to provide a contact and coordinating point for all laboratories and research organizations involved in the use of biotechnology for tropical crop improvement. A primary goal will be to give developing-world researchers a greater voice and bring them into contact with partners in the industrialized countries and by so doing encourage capacity building within the LDCs.

Objectives:

• to promote the circulation of information in LDCs about food crops and advanced technologies
• to raise awareness of tropical crops and issues surrounding them in the developed countries
• to bring potential funding bodies into contact with LDCs and tropical research organizations
• to organize scientific meetings for LDC scientists

Goals:

• Goals include development of a web site and other means of communication, creation of a fellowship program, and establishment of regular scientific meetings.

Challenges:

To boost food crop productivity through global networking.

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