Tuber seed quality, especially the absence of diseases and pests, is vital to the success or failure of a potato crop. CIP initiated an emergency program to speed up the supply of quality potato seed to Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan.

From the outset, the intention was to help Afghanistan's farmers produce their own potato seed rather than import it. In September, project staff received 22 tons of commercial "starter" seed—enough to plant seven hectares. Ninety percent of the shipment was brought in by road from Pakistan through the Khyber Pass, with the remainder coming in as air cargo from India. To ensure that the imported starter seed would be well used, seed production training programs were initiated for staff from Afghanistan's Ministry of Agriculture, local NGOs, and Kabul University. Course graduates, working alongside CIP scientists and researchers from Pakistan, in turn trained a small group of local farmers.

The collapse of the Soviet Union forced wrenching change on the nations of Central Asia and the Caucasus, or CAC (Central Asia consists of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan while the Caucasus includes Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia). With the disintegration of state-provided inputs, guaranteed product outlets, supporting institutions, infrastructure and policies, the region was thrown into poverty and disarray. Food production fell by 15-45% while populations continued to increase. Agriculture could no longer depend on a few massive state-dominated commodity systems, and needed to reorient and diversify to meet local food needs through a market economy. If nothing was done, a descent into hunger, chaos and eventual conflict appeared likely.

But where to begin? The once-impressive official research and development institutions had collapsed along with the rest of the Soviet structure. Many researchers were earning less than a dollar a day and had almost no operational support or materials to work with.

The CGIAR responded to this major geopolitical development by formally recognizing CAC as target for increased System activity. With its close proximity to CAC and its pre-existing partnerships and experience in the area, ICARDA took the lead during 1995/96 to develop and convene a CAC Consortium. The CAC Consortium now includes nine Centers: CIP, CIMMYT, ICARDA, ICRISAT, IFPRI, ILRI, IPGRI, IRRI, and IWMI.

The Consortium took a systematic approach, first strengthening the partnerships that would be vital for buy-in and progress. They met with CAC leaders and researchers for joint assessments of priorities. With CGIAR approval and funding, the Consortium established a Program Facilitation Unit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan housed in ICARDA's regional office there to enable strong partnerships and communication.

CAC countries and the CGIAR Centers in the Consortium developed joint research proposals and obtained donor support from the Asian Development Bank, IFAD, USAID, and the World Bank to launch their ambitious plans to reinvigorate the agricultural base of the region's economy for the long term. The partners currently collaborate under five major themes: productivity of agricultural systems; natural resource conservation and management; conservation and evaluation of genetic resources and biodiversity; socioeconomic and public policy research; and strengthening national programs (Beniwal and Varma 2000).