Sathguru-ABSP II Template

Building on the success of the ABSP, the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSPII) was established as a consortium lead by Cornell University to help scientists, policy makers, farmers and consumers in partnering developing countries make informed choices about using agricultural bioengineered products. ABSPII works to bring the benefits of agriculture biotechnology to small-scale and resource poor farmers and consumers in Africa and Asia by supporting agricultural research, policy formulation and regulatory systems in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mali, Uganda and Kenya.

ABSPII focuses on the safe and effective development and commercialization of bio-engineered crops as a complement to traditional and organic agricultural approaches in developing countries. The project helps boost food security, economic growth, nutrition and environmental quality in East and West Africa, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Philippines. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by Cornell University, ABSPII is a consortium of public and private sector institutions.

The consortium develops innovative, pragmatic solutions, building on the successes of the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project (ABSP) that was led for over a decade by Michigan State University.

In South Asia (India and Bangladesh), ABSPII supports development of expertise in the areas of research, policy development, licensing and outreach to help reduce poverty and hunger through agricultural biotechnology. Current initiatives relate to development of Tobacco Streak Virus Resistant (TSVR) Groundnut, Late Blight Resistant (LBR) Potato, Fruit and Shoot Borer Resistant (FSBR) Eggplant, Drought Tolerant Rice and Salinity Tolerant Rice.

Who we are...

Cornell University

Cornell University leads the large consortium of public and private partners implementing the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II. Cornell is an IVY League University located in Ithaca, New York, USA. It is one of the world’s leading Universities providing education to about 18,000 students from world over. About 1,600 able faculty comprising of internationally recognized authorities in their respective fields including Nobel laureates and Rhodes Scholars guide these students in academics and research. The research interests and activities of the faculty have placed Cornell among the world’s best research institutions especially in the areas of agri business and food processing.

Sathguru Management Consultants

Sathguru Management Consultants is part of the large consortium of public and private partners implementing ABSP II in South Asia and acts as its Regional Coordinator for the region. Sathguru's exposure to Life Sciences encompasses every segment of it - Agriculture, food, animal health, human health, environment, genomics, bio-informatics and bio-engineering.

Sathguru provides strategic advisory services to the Corporate Sector, Public Research Bodies, Academic Institutions and Non-Government Organisations in developing appropriate research focus and commercialisation opportunities and advises the Government bodies in creating appropriate mechanism for life sciences sector to grow and prosper.

What we do...

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.