Agricultural Research for Impact: Partnering with Feed the Future Innovation Labs

Event Information

Behind every great agricultural innovation, there are researchers dedicated to helping the world achieve food security. One of the pillars of the Feed the Future Initiative is a robust research community to develop new and innovative approaches to food security. The Feed the Future Research Strategy presents a global research portfolio to create more productive crops presents a global research portfolio to create more productive crops and animals, sustainably intensify agricultural production systems, ensure food security, and enhance access to nutritionally improved diets. A central component of this strategy is the creation of the Feed the Future Innovation Labs, based at numerous universities throughout the United States. These universities work with local researchers in USAID's partner countries, and with USAID Missions and implementing partners, to conduct targeted research that will have a direct impact on local, national and regional food security. These partnerships ensure that the latest agricultural innovations successfully move from research to practice.

In this seminar, USAID’s Saharah Moon Chapotin, discussed the various ways that Missions and implementing partners can collaborate with Innovation Labs to bring research to scale. Representatives from two of the Innovation Labs also discussed the mechanisms through which their research is being implemented in the field. R. Muniappan of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Innovation Lab discussed the successful partnership in Nepal behind the Knowledge-based Integrated Sustainable Agriculture and Nutrition (KISAN) project. Irvin Widders, from the Legume Innovation Lab, discussed the Bean Technology Dissemination Award in Central America.

Speakers

Saharah Moon

Saharah Moon Chapotin

USAID/BFS/ARP

Saharah Moon Chapotin is currently acting Division Chief for Agricultural Research at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She joined USAID in 2006 as a Biotechnology Advisor, managing international partnerships to promote the adoption of conservation agriculture practices in South Asia, develop bioengineered crops for small-holder farmers, and strengthen biosafety regulatory capacity in Africa & Asia. Prior to working at USAID, Chapotin worked at the Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products (BIGMAP) at Iowa State University, where her work focused on resolving regulatory issues for genetically engineered crops, especially those intended for small and niche-markets. Chapotin holds a B.S. in Biology from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from Harvard University, and has completed the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship Program.

R. Muniappan

Muni Headshot

Virginia Tech/Feed the Future IPM Innovation Lab

Muni Muniappan is a world-renowned specialist in tropical economic entomology, biological control of insect pests and weeds, and integrated pest management. He received his doctorate from Oklahoma State University and has worked in the tropics for over 35 years. Muniappan is a member of the Entomological Society of America, the Royal Entomological Society, and an emeritus member of the International Organization for Biological Control. He currently serves as director of the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab (IPM IL), a USAID-funded program dedicated to raising the standard of living in developing countries through sustainable agricultural practices. The program, managed by Virginia Tech, operates in six regions of the tropical world: West Africa, East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The venture has a presence in 12 Feed the Future countries. The IPM IL concentrates on the development of IPM packages for high value vegetable crops, coffee, cocoa, potato, naranjilla, tree tomato, and passion fruit, and to a lesser extent millet, rice, and wheat. Initially, Muniappan was involved in regionalizing IPM; currently he is concentrating on globalizing IPM by conducting national, regional and international workshops, conferences, and symposia.The Lab has generated over a billion dollars in benefits by introducing several technologies to participating countries and their neighbors.

Irvin Widders

Irvin Widders Headshot

Michigan State/Feed the Future Legume Innovation Lab

Dr. Irvin Widders. Ph.D. in plant physiology from the University of California, Davis. Joined the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University in 1982 and currently holds the rank of Professor. The focus of his research program has been on vegetable crop physiology, the regulation of ion transport, and plant responses to abiotic stresses. Dr. Widders has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Environmental Physiology, Vegetable Crop Production, and Plant Mineral Nutrition. He also coordinated semester-long study abroad programs in Peru and Costa Rica (1996-2010). Dr. Widders has been actively engaged in international programs at Michigan State University, having worked in such diverse countries as Honduras, Uruguay, Zimbabwe and Vietnam. He has served as Director for the Bean/Cowpea Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) (2000-2007), the Dry Grain Pulses CRSP (2007-2012), and the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Grain Legumes (2013-2017). MSU is the Management Entity of this Title XII research and institutional capacity strengthening program funded by the USAID’s Bureau for Food Security in partnership with U.S. universities and agriculture research institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Under Dr. Widders’ leadership, the program has expanded in technical scope to include research on human nutrition, has developed ties with the CG’s Grain Legume program, and has improved the livelihoods of the rural poor, especially those which produce, market and consume grain legumes in developing countries.

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