Future Harvest is in turn financed by the CGIAR (or the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), which
is made up of 58 countries, private foundations, and regional and
international organizations. This group was formed in 1971 with the
specific purpose of supporting the Future Harvest Groups. It
employs more than 8,500 scientists and scientific staff, and
supports both applied and strategic research in five basic fields:

-- Increasing Productivity
-- Protecting the Environment
-- Saving Biodiversity
-- Improving Policies
-- Strengthening National Research.

The results of its research are placed within
the public domain so that the maximum number of
people can benefit from its activities.

In Asia, CIAT has implemented a program entitled "Integrated
Cassava-based Cropping Systems in Asia: Farming Practice to Enhance
Sustainability." The program is improving the lot of thousands of
farmers throughout the region. As mentioned, it is based in a
farmer-participatory approach to development and dissemination.
Farmers use their own fields to try out the Center's products.

Since the fields, needs and cultures of the world are all
different, CIAT feels that the best way to approach farmers is to
offer a variety of crops and cultivation methods from which those
who actually work the land can choose. The idea is working well,
and dissemination is proceeding naturally and rapidly as
neighboring farmers see and adopt the methods of their own accord.
In Vietnam for example, in 2000, fewer than 245 farmers adopted the
technology. One year later, in 2001, the number rose by 2000.