Abstract

The AIDS epidemic is having a major impact on agricultural systems in eastern and southern Africa. It threatens food security by weakening and depleting the workforce, by diverting resources from farm inputs to healthcare, and by interrupting the transfer of agricultural skills and knowledge from one generation to the next. Yet with some notable exceptions, agricultural research and development (R&D) institutions in the region have yet to address the issue of AIDs prevention or the mitigation of its consequences. This multi-donor initiative will support several institutional innovations aimed at enhancing the capacity of the region's agricultural R&D system to respond to the AIDS challenge. Specifically, the IDRC grant will support a meeting of country teams to consolidate a network; research in Uganda on the vulnerability of agricultural systems to AIDS; and assessments of policies and programs by country teams in Uganda and Malawi.

Recipient Institution(s)