A CGIAR Collaborative Research Program for Sustainable Agricultural Production in Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC) was jointly initiated by nine CGIAR Centers and the eight National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in September 1998.

The Program was an outcome of a series of initiatives beginning with a Ministerial-Level Meeting in Lucerne at which it was recommended that the CGIAR should consider an involvement with the agricultural research needs of the southern part of the former Soviet Union (FSU). A CGIAR task force was established which, in 1996, proposed an expansion of the geographic mandate of CGIAR and the development of an overall strategy for CAC. A series of workshops/consultation meetings and studies followed, which outlined problems facing the agricultural production and research systems of the CAC countries, possible research activities in need of additional support, and a strategy by which CGIAR could assist the NARS in CAC in both institutional development and the development of the policies and technology needed for the revival and future development of the agricultural sector. more »