Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced in July that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA; Washington, DC) is initiating a scientific exchange program to enhance crop biotechnology research in sub-Saharan Africa. At the outset, the program will provide modest funding to encourage partnerships involving USDA; universities and colleges; the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (Texcoco, Mexico); and agricultural research institutions in Africa, such as the National Agricultural Research Service in Kenya, Ghana, and Senegal. In addition to improving key crops in Africa, where agriculture accounts for about one-third of all economic activity, USDA says the project will also promote "an awareness of the benefits of biotechnology for developing nations and ensure the crops produced this way are healthy and safe."
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Fox, J. USDA aims at Africa. Nat Biotechnol 17, 837 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/12790
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/12790