Category 1: Increasing Productivity
1.1 Germplasm enhancement and breeding
1.1.1 Pre-breeding activities (including applications of techniques in molecular biology)1.1.2 Crops: Crop germplasm enhancement and breeding: incorporating primitive and novel germplasm into useful material for breeding purposes, as well as germplasm evaluation and conventional breeding.
1.1.3 Livestock: Breed improvement.
1.1.4 Trees: Tree germplasm improvement: breeding of improved trees including multipurpose trees and shrubs.
1.1.5 Fish: Breed improvement.
1.2 Production systems development and management
1.2.1 Baseline studies of production systems (including constraint analysis and monitoring of sustainability)1: Characterization of the socioeconomic and agricultural aspects of farming systems including analysis of constraints to production and sustainability.1.2.2 Development and management of farming systems, including socioeconomic evaluation of new technology or practices1: Design and testing of farming systems and components for more productive and sustainable systems.
1These are generic activities common to the crop, livestock, tree and fish production sectors.
1.2.3 Cropping systems
(a) Plant nutrition - crop and pasture nutrient requirements, the availability, cycling and uptake of nutrients (including the role of mycorrhiza and other symbionts), tillage and fertilizer management.(b) Plant protection and pest management (diseases, insect pests and weeds) - the economic control of diseases, insect pests and weeds of crop, pasture and tree species including systems for integrated pest management.
(c) Seed production - increase of seed of elite materials, its certification and release.
(d) Postharvest technology - the development of ways of treating commodities to reduce losses in the storage and marketing system and improve the quality and value of foods through processing.
1.2.4 Livestock systems
(a) Livestock nutrition including studies on feeds, pastures and fodder - assessment of the nutritional status of livestock in relation to the availability of feed resources.(b) Animal health - epidemiology, biology, immunology and genetics of animal pests.
(c) Livestock reproduction - reproductive biology of livestock and the reduction of reproductive wastage from reproductive diseases and other causes.
1.2.5 Tree systems
(a) Silviculture and tree production - the management of trees in agroforestry, plantation and natural forest systems to enhance and sustain productivity.(b) Tree nutrition - tree nutrient requirements, the availability, cycling and uptake of nutrients (including the role of mycorrhiya and other symbionts), and fertilizer management.
(c) Tree protection (diseases, insect pests and weeds) - the economic control of disease, insect pests and weeds of tree species including systems for integrated pest management.
1.2.6 Aquatic systems
(a) Fish reproduction - reproductive biology offish and the reduction of reproductive wastage from reproductive diseases and other causes.(b) Fish nutrition including studies on feeds - assessment of the nutritional status offish in relation to the availability of feed resources.
Category 2: Protecting the Environment
2.1 Ecosystems analysis, ecological characterization and environmental concerns - the characterization, classification, mapping and analysis of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, especially in relation to the functioning and use of ecosystems including human use patterns and pressures, climate, hydrology, soil and landform.
2.2 Biology and ecology of useful organisms and pests - study of the distribution, production and dynamics of economically important plants, animals and fish and of the weeds, insect pests and diseases which affect them, and vectors related to hazards to human health
2.3 Land resources conservation and management - research on the maintenance or improvement of the potential productivity of the land resource base and its components especially the edaphic, climatic, hydrological and biological resources.
(a) Soil and landform - research on monitoring, maintaining or improving the physical and biological characteristics as well as chemical fertility of soils.(b) Water - research on the conservation and management of rainfall and/or irrigation water.
(c) Plants and animals - research on the factors affecting the productivity and conservation of natural vegetation including forests and rangelands, and research to monitor natural populations of wildlife.
2.4 Aquatic resources conservation and management - research on the maintenance or improvement of the potential productivity of the aquatic resource base, including research on the population dynamics of aquatic resources and their exploitation.
2.5 Processes and mechanisms of sustainable resource systems
2.6 Modelling of landscape and watershed level phenomena
Category 3: Saving Biodiversity
3.1 Germplasm collection, conservation, characterization and evaluation
- collection and maintenance of in vitro (and in situ) germplasm collections and the distribution, characterization and documentation of collections.
Category 4: Socioeconomic, Public Policy and Public Management Research
4.1 Economic and social analysis
(a) Human nutrition - study of the relationship between such factors as nutritional composition of commodities, food quality, income, price, socioeconomic characteristics and the nutritional status of people.(b) Gender, human health hazards and sociocultural organization - analysis of gender, health and sociocultural organization in agricultural communities.
(c) Microeconomic and social analysis - research to determine the economic and social effects and implications of technologies or policies as they affect people, by examining farm, household or village data.
(d) Market and trade analysis - research to determine the market level economic conditions that may result from various technologies, institutions or policies and to analyze the impact of trade and macroeconomic policy on markets.
(e) Impact assessment and priority setting - research to assess the impact of research including cost/benefit analysis and to improve the analytical basis on which research priorities are set.
4.2 Policy analysis - Research to determine the desirability of alternative policies from the viewpoint of society, taking into consideration productivity, equity, sustainability, and environmental concerns.
4.3 Governance and management of public systems (including irrigation systems) - Analysis of organizations for the management of public systems (including irrigation systems) and the development of innovations to improve their performance.
4.4 Research on organization and management of institutes - analysis of research and research management processes aimed at the development/enhancement of approaches, methodologies and tools for conducting these processes. The procedures generated relate to biological/technological research, i.e. technology generation efforts and organization and management of NARS.
Category 5: Fortifying National Programmes
5.1 Training and conferences
(a) Training - human resource enhancement including specialized training courses, postgraduate research, study tours, etc.(b) Conferences and seminars - to foster the build-up of NARS capacities and the effective functioning of international research collaboration; fora for discussion of scientific cooperation among the partners in the global system (IARCs, NARS, specialized institutions); stimulating horizontal transfer of information and technology among national research systems.
5.2 Documentation, publication and dissemination of information - Efforts to use systematically the global knowledge base in areas and disciplines of relevance to centres' research programmes and to make available to NARS relevant information on progress and output of centres' research programmes, through newsletters, publications, electronic media, and abstracting services.
5.3 Institution building/advice to NARS - assisting NARS through the provision of advice and counsel. This covers a range of subjects/topics and includes the biological sciences (conduct of research) and the organization and management field (organization and management of NARS). Primary objective: build-up of NARS capacities (institution building).
5.4 Networks - Organizing, coordinating, managing or backstopping of collaborative research efforts among various partners in the global research systems with the primary objective of building up national capacities. This category does not include activities of research networks.
