IPAT Activity Updates
Update on IFAS International Programs Activities
April – September 2008
New Projects
USAID Initiative for Long-term Training and Capacity Building (UILTCB) – Malawi
Six professionals from Bunda College and the Ministry of Agriculture in Malawi arrived in Gainesville on 16 August 2008 to begin graduate studies. Five of the professionals are MS Candidates in the Food and Resource Economics Department and one is a MS candidate in the Agriculture and Biological Engineering Department. Their two-year graduate programs are being funded by USAID-Malawi; the amount given to UF is $252,928. These funds include travel to Malawi for each major professor to guide graduate student research.
Deep Placement of urea briquettes and access to microcredit to improve incomes of smallholder rice farmers in Coastal Ecuador: a collaborative project with ESPOL (Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral) in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
ESPOL, in collaboration with UF and a local NGO known as FUNDAR, has obtained $297,000 for a three-year project to improve the incomes of smallholder rice farmers in Ecuador. This project has officially started with a recent sondeo (28 July – 01 August) by several ESPOL and UF faculty and students. The project will pay for four students who will be candidates for MS degrees at UF. The four students, all recent graduates of ESPOL, will seek MS degrees in Food and Resource Economics, Soil & Water Science, and Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
A Florida-Spain partnership for strengthening organic agriculture research and education.
A $100,000 grant from USDA through the International Science and Education (ISE) program has been awarded to Dr. Xin Zhao (Horticulture) and colleagues to internationalize organic agriculture education, research, and extension programs at the University of Florida (UF) by building on an existing relationship with the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) in Spain. IFAS/International Programs played a substantial role in proposal development and continues to be involved on the steering committee for the project.
Uganda organic coffee certification training program.
The Ugandan Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) is funding UF ($75,000) to develop and deliver an organic coffee certification training program to improve the capacity of Uganda to export USDA certified organic coffee into the US market, thereby improving the incomes of Ugandan coffee producers, mostly small-holders, throughout the country. A team of UF organic agriculture specialists traveled to Uganda in June to lay the groundwork for the training program. During the summer, a curriculum specific to Ugandan conditions was developed. The initial training program will be accomplished in late October 2008. Continuing discussions with UCDA focused on research and educational collaborations are underway.
Collaboration with Brazilian universities through the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) program, U.S. Department of Education
Two new grants from FIPSE have now been added to two continuing grants that UF/IFAS has obtained as part of the U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program run cooperatively by the governments of the United States and Brazil. The four grants are being managed with faculty in Soil & Water Science, Agricultural & Biological Engineering, and Wildlife Ecology & Conservation. Each grant runs for four years (two started October 2007 and two started October 2008) with total funding of about $500,000.
Vietnam Codex Office Internship to the U.S. Codex Office
The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Office of Capacity Building and Development has contracted with UF/IFAS to manage and direct a three-month internship for a Vietnamese national in Washington, D.C. and Gainesville to assist that country in more fully participating in the international food safety standard-setting bodies and to adopt the Codex Alimentarius and other internationally recognized standards related to agricultural trade for use in Vietnam. This effort is envisioned as the launch of a long term Codex relationship with Codex offices throughout south and East Asia. UF/IFAS will have the opportunity to be a principal partner in this effort through our commitment to this pilot activity. Funding in the amount of $60,000 has been committed for the initial effort with Vietnam, an effort that will focus principally on seafood product safety.
UF/IFAS Framework for Undergraduate/Graduate Collaborative International Environmental Education in the Tropical Region
Funds have been received from the office of the UF Vice President for Research (Dr. Win Phillips) to develop a collaborative research/education program that will permit UF graduate students to work with EARTH undergraduate interns on the UF campus and at EARTH on joint research activities focused on water resources (wetland ecology and irrigation management). Seed funds to pilot the program were provided by the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and IFAS/International Programs during the 2007/08 academic year. New resources from the Vice President’s office will sustain the program for the next three years, permitting the program leaders in ABE sufficient time to secure funds on a continuing basis. Total funds committed by Dr. Phillips are $81,000.
Continuing Projects
Millennium Village Project in Haiti.
The Millennium Village Project (MVP) is a community‐driven, multi‐disciplinary approach to lifting villages in developing countries out of poverty. All MVP work to date has focused on sub-Saharan Africa. At the invitation of The Earth Institute (Columbia University), the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami is assuming the leadership for taking the MVP concept to Haiti, the first location in the Western Hemisphere in which the approach will be tested. The UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is supporting this effort by providing expertise and leadership in the agricultural dimensions of the project, a fundamental component of economic development in most rural communities including the target village, Marmont, in the Central Plateau of Haiti. Funding support of about $1.0 Million is being sought through private donations and foundations.
Higher Education for Development (HED) and USAID grant to Food & Resource Economics Department to strengthen Agribusiness training in the Faculté d’Agronomie et de Médecine Vétérinaire (FAMV) of Haiti’s National University.
The overall goal of the partnership is to build and strengthen relationships between the FAMV faculty and the Haitian business community by developing curricula that are timely, relevant, responsive to market demands, and representative of actual business conditions in Haiti. The partnership aims to help FAMV faculty and their students to think, teach and act more entrepreneurially to develop Haiti’s agri-business sector. The funding for three years—starting mid 2008—is $300,000.
Strengthening Agricultural and Environmental Capacity through Distance Education (SAEC-DE): Improving access to MS degree programs at UF for professionals from developing countries.
Funded by USAID, the SAEC-DE is a partnership involving UF, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and Makerere University in Uganda. The program provides access to UF graduate education for four MS degree candidates currently employed at the University of Nairobi and Makerere University. All are candidates for MS degrees from UF; through distance education, two of the candidates are seeking MS degrees in soil and water science while the other two are seeking MS degrees in entomology and pest management. The program started in 2005 with a grant to UF of $62,550. The program will run until 2010. The first student to potentially graduate is scheduled to defend this fall.
Project Proposals Under Development
Building a Carbon-Neutral Energy Infrastructure: Sustainable Technologies through Integrated Decision Making
IFAS International Programs is assisting Dr. J.N. Chung et al. in the development of a proposal for the NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT). The final full proposal is due 20 October 2008.
Middle East Water and Livelihoods Initiative
IFAS International Programs is coordinating input from many UF faculty in the development of a major Middle East Water and Livelihoods Initiative under the leadership of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). The project, when fully funded, will involve a network of scientists, government leaders, local Extension agents, and NGOs in seven countries in the region (Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen). USAID is expected to provide a seed grant to ICARDA of $500,000 to help develop and initially implement the initiative.
The Agricultural Open Curriculum and Learning Initiative (AGROCURI)
Proposal was submitted by the lead institution (International Food Policy Research Institute - IFPRI) to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on July 30. The total budget is $20.3 Million (5 years) with UF-CALS as one of the key partners that helped to develop the proposal under the guidance of Dr. Sabine Grunwald, Associate Professor, Soil & Water Science Department.
Conferences, Study Tours, and Training Programs
44th Annual Meeting of the Caribbean Food Crops Society (CFCS), Miami, 13-17 July 2008
IFAS International Programs worked with other IFAS faculty and staff to organize a highly successful conference that brought together some 300 participants from 22 nations in the Caribbean Basin, North America, and Europe. Over $200,000 in funding support was provided by an array of donors to organize the meeting, which met in Miami Beach.
Changing Environment and Emerging Infectious Diseases (CEED) retreat, UF’s Whitney Laboratory, 7-8 August 2008
The Emerging Pathogens Institute and IFAS International Programs have been partnering in an effort to build interdisciplinary research and training activities on the interaction of climate change, agriculture, and human health. A summer 2008 seminar series and a group retreat with about 30 participants from multiple UF colleges and departments, including three invited outside speakers were convened. The August retreat allowed networking and team building to identify opportunities for greater collaboration across UF as well as with other global institutions. Funds in the amount of $11,000 to support the seminar series, the retreat, and a planned international conference on the UF campus in February 2009 have been obtained from a variety of sources.
Training program on Crop Growth Simulation Models, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 25-28 August 2008
IFAS International Programs and the Agricultural & Biological Engineering Department jointly conducted a four-day training program for 16 participants working in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala on a World Bank funded project to develop crop insurance programs for smallholder farmers in Central America. UF was awarded $10,000 to conduct the training program.
Study tour of Biofuels industry in São Paulo state, Brazil, 9-13 June 2008
IFAS International Programs organized a study tour of the Biofuels industry in Brazil for a group of 13 participants including five County Extension Faculty members matched with five County Commissioners from the same county (Leon, Marion, Palm Beach, Santa Rosa, and Suwannee counties), along with three additional UF faculty members. Funding support was provided by IFAS Extension. Funding support for travel was provided by the IFAS Dean of Extension.
Scientific Cooperation Exchange Program with the People’s Republic of China, 12-26 October 2008 (Linking the People’s Republic of China to the International Distance Diagnostic and Identification System Network).
The USDA/FAS and IFAS International Programs are jointly sponsoring a two-week visit to China by five UF faculty who have been involved in the development and implementation of the Distance Diagnostic and Identification System (DDIS). The purpose of the visit is to explore the possibility of implementing a similar program in China. IFAS/IP is providing funds for airline tickets to and from China while all in-country costs are being covered by the Chinese government.
China visit by IFAS Dean for Research and faculty, October 2008
Dr. Mark McLellan and Dr. David Sammons will lead a group of UF faculty on a visit to Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. The purpose of the visit is to establish research partnerships with Zhejiang University, one of the best in the country. In addition, discussions will occur relative to joint Ph.D. programs and Chinese scholarship support for visiting scientists to come to the University of Florida. The visit builds on a summer visit of senior Zhejiang University leaders to Gainesville.
International Conference on Research & Educational Opportunities in Bio-Fuel Crop Production, EARTH University, Costa Rica, 17-19 November 2008
EARTH University and UF are jointly organizing this conference to be held at the main EARTH campus in Guácimo de Limón, Costa Rica. The Web site for the meeting is http://www.earth-ufbiofuels.org/.
Fellows and Short-term Scholars
Borlaug Fellows from Iraq:
Two to work on water management issues at the Everglades REC; two to work on Extension training with the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication in Gainesville for 6-week period in Spring 2009. Total funds received = $72,631.
Borlaug Fellow from El Salvador:
One young scientist to work with Richard Litz at the Tropical REC, Homestead on cell and tissue culture techniques for the improvement of tropical and subtropical fruit species. Total funds received = $15,161.
Cochran Fellows:
Four food scientists from Venezuela hosted for two weeks during summer by the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. Total Funds received = $19,000.
Short-term scholar program:
Program that permits UF/IFAS to host undergraduate students from international institutions on the Gainesville campus or at RECs around the state; currently we are hosting students from Zamorano University (Honduras) and EARTH University (Costa Rica).
International Visitors
Embrapa US Labex/Beltsville and Europe Labex/Montpellier:
Labex directors spent two days in Gainesville discussing research collaboration and placement of young scientists at UF for advanced degrees.
Director General of The World Vegetable Center:
Dr. Dyno Keatinge, the DG of The World Vegetable Center (Taiwan), spent two days in Gainesville meeting with faculty in the plant science units, principally Horticultural Sciences, to discuss collaboration on research and educational issues as well as partnership in the pending Horticulture CRSP.
Leonardo Taylhardat:
The Dean of Agricultural Sciences at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) in Maracay visited UF 27-30 May 2008. A follow-up visit was made on 5 September by Jose Clavijo, professor and responsible for international collaboration at UCV.
Chonghua Zhang:
Visited UF in July as part of our effort to establish a strong presence in China; Dr. Zhang has agreed to represent IFAS/International Programs in China as we seek to develop new programmatic activities with the government of China and universities there. He will make a return visit in September 2008.
Eng. Ismael Haiderzadah:
Visited UF for two days as part of an effort to strengthen the Department of Agriculture in Herat Province, Afghanistan; strong interests in animal production, vegetable/fruit production, and advanced education for junior scientist were voiced.
Unsuccessful proposals
Albania:
A proposal to help build an Agricultural Economics curriculum at the Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania was submitted to the USAID Higher Education for Development.
Bangladesh:
A proposal to address agricultural and human health issues in Bangladesh was submitted to the Agriculture and Health Research Platform of the CGIAR. This proposal was developed with the Emerging Pathogens Institute at UF.
Global Challenge Program:
UF contributed to the development of two Global Challenge Program (CP) proposals, one on Climate Change and one on Horticulture, that were submitted by consortia of CGIAR centers and institutes of higher learning. The Climate Change CP has been approved for start-up activities but the Horticulture CP has not been approved by the Science Council of the CGIAR.
