FAQs

Crops for the Future (CFF) is an international organisation dedicated to the promotion of neglected and underutilised plant species. It evolved from the International Centre for Underutilised Crops based in Sri Lanka and the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilised Species, based in Italy. In 2008, the Asia/Pacific Office of Bioversity International and The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) were selected to jointly host CFF at their locations in Malaysia. CFF was established through support from the UK Department for International Development.

CFF has a global mandate that covers the whole range of underutilised species for food and non-food uses. Its purposes include;

• catalysing the development of processing and marketing facilities for underutilised crops and options for income generation;

• strengthening national and regional efforts in policy advocacy; coalitions, consortia and alliances with relevant and engaged partners from the public and private sectors that include the breeding, production, processing and marketing of novel and underutilised crops;

• using the innovation systems concept, i.e. to act as an initiator and facilitator, not implementer of research and development activities on underutilised species.

Over 7,000 plant species have been grown or collected by human beings for food, but less than 150 have been commercialised and just three - maize, wheat and rice - supply half the world’s daily proteins and calories. Our dependence on such a small number of crops involves many risks including crop failure, impacts of conflict on agricultural production, commodity price variability and climate change. As the global population rises, underutilised crops provide new opportunities and reduce agricultural risks. These crops usually grow in hostile environments that are not well suited to large-scale commercial agriculture. The poor are often the main inhabitants of such areas and underutilised crops give them alternative sources of income.

Malaysia is a member of the Consultative Group on Agricultural Research but until now has not hosted any other international crop centre. It has excellent infrastructure for crop research and is home to over 15,000 species of indigenous plants (5% of the world’s total). Malaysia was selected as host against stiff competition from many international agencies and countries who also bid to host CFF; The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and the regional office of Bioversity International were selected to jointly co-host CFF in Malaysia.

Nottingham is a leading, global, research-led university with campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia. The University has established a number of Research and Knowledge Transfer Priority Groups which support the delivery of excellence in research and knowledge transfer and Global Food Security is one of its major priority groups. The University also has a strong track record in research on tropical crops. Professor Sayed Azam-Ali and his research team in the University’s Tropical Crops Research Unit have been working on underutilised crops since 1988 both in laboratories and glasshouses in the UK and with partners in Africa and Asia. The combination of excellent research facilities and expertise in global food security and its international reputation specifically on underutilised crops make Nottingham an ideal research partner for CFF.

CFFRC is the research arm of CFF and is the first-of-its-kind global centre with the mandate for research and development on underutilised plants for food and non-food uses. It is a unique public/private partnership between a national government and an international research university. Incorporated under the Malaysia Companies Act, CFFRC is guaranteed by the Government of Malaysia and The University of Nottingham but is an independent entity with the freedom to drive innovative methods of research within the wider objectives of CFF and its stakeholders. CFFRC will operate through a Board of Directors that includes representatives from its Guarantors, CFF and an Independent Chair. An international Advisory Board will be established to help guide strategic direction and develop new initiatives.

As its research arm, CFFRC it will operate within the mandate and under the strategic direction of CFF and thus support CFF’s agenda whilst retaining institutional independence. Although they are separate legal entities, CFF and CFFRC will closely coordinate their work, for example through representation on each other’s Boards and joint activities. CFF will continue to focus on its role as an information platform and international facilitator whilst CFFRC will provide facilities, opportunities and activities for research whose principal mission is to remove the supply and use constraints limiting the role of so many underutilised crops.

A consultation process has been initiated in which stakeholders will provide wide-ranging inputs and direction to establish a `CFFRC Research Strategy and Action Plan’. The Strategy will establish a proof-of-concept research value chain approach on a selection of `exemplar’ crops to demonstrate how research from `seed to market’ can be applied to many other underutilised crops.

CFFRC has an international mandate and will be able to work on crops from throughout the world. Many of these are indigenous to Malaysia or its surrounding regions; other species not currently grown here may have potential in Malaysia.

The purpose of CFFRC is to move from individual plants that demonstrate potential characteristics to how these might be developed, produced, processed and marketed as crops at the local, regional or international scale.

CFFRC has the full support of the Government of Malaysia and especially the Prime Minister who has championed its establishment since it was first proposed in 2008. The Government recognises that growth in high value agricultural products has been constrained by factors like limited access to suitable land and financing, inadequate support services, lack of R&D support and weak links to the market. The 10MP, states that Malaysia will "intensify collaborative R&D with established agricultural research institutes to leapfrog innovation in the production processes, disease control and safety and quality control, including the development of new high-value added products." CFFRC is an excellent example of how Malaysia can achieve these aspirations.

CFFRC is an independent research centre but will have access to facilities and expertise at The University of Nottingham in Malaysia, UK and China, national agencies such as 2MARDI, leading universities in Malaysia, and operational links with CFF, Bioversity International and other international and national agencies, especially in Africa and South Asia.

Species for investigation can include annual and perennial crops with potential as staple foods, vegetables, fruits, forages, pharmaceutical, medicinal, bioenergy and constructional materials.

Initial support has been committed by the Government of Malaysia for capital and operational costs for 7 years to support the establishment of CFFRC and related activities. During this period, CFFRC will increasingly attract funding for research and training activities from public, private and international sponsors so that it can become financially independent.

For Malaysia, CFFRC will contribute to:

• Improved local food and non-food crops with nutritional and/or market potential
• A high profile world research centre which is accessible to local scientists and institutions creating a huge potential for Malaysian research and development
• Attracting international support for research to objectively evaluate a range of potentially important species with multiple end uses
• Making Malaysia a pioneer in research, development and marketing of novel or underutilised crops.

Globally, CFFRC will contribute to;

• Developing novel food and non-food products for local and international use
• Promoting academic and student research programmes in higher learning institutions
• Accessing national and international sources of funding for research and development
• Disseminating research outputs and methodologies
• Promoting CFF and CFFRC activities at local, regional and global scales.

CFFRC is the research arm of CFF which has the global mandate to catalyse action on underutilised crops. One of CFF’s main tasks will be to lobby for favourable policy environments for underutilised crops in international and regional arenas. Another will be to promote communication and information exchange. Above all, CFF will support and backstop research and development at national and local levels principally through CFFRC and its partners throughout the world who will initiate, manage and deliver the outputs of research on underutilised crops. Where these outputs lead to better products, niche markets and income-generating opportunities, they can impact on the lives of people who currently live under the threat of food and nutritional insecurity.

CFFRC is unique; there is no research centre in the world dedicated entirely to underutilised crops. CFFRC and its partners in Malaysia will link across the whole value chain from biotechnology and seed systems through to marketing and end uses. This linkage will build critical mass on particular crops and provide `proof-of-concept’ learning experiences and research platforms that can be rapidly applied to a range of underutilised crops.

A very important element of CFFRC research is the opportunity for academic staff, researchers and postgraduate students to investigate different underutilised crops through multidisciplinary research projects. Such research will generate high-impact publications and research theses, some of which may produce commercial outcomes. In addition, CFFRC will support CFF in the dissemination of research to end-user communities, other stakeholders and the general public.

CFFRC will operate through a CEO and support team that includes Research Theme Leaders, Operations Managers, Administrators and Technicians. Research projects will be contracted with sponsors and partners and delivered through postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate studentships both with The University of Nottingham and with national and international partners.

CFFRC is a research centre and its primary task is to investigate the potential of underutilised crops and disseminate knowledge on them and their uses some of which will be economic or commercial. In addition CFFRC will attract national and international sources of funding for research and development on a range of underutilised crops for food and non-food uses.

CFFRC is a high profile world research centre which will be accessible to local scientists and institutions creating a huge potential for Malaysian research and development. CFFRC and its research partners in higher education and research institutes have the opportunity to make Malaysia a pioneer in research, development and marketing of novel crops.

CFFRC will contribute to R&D in Agriculture which is one of the National Key Economic areas (NKEA) of the Government of Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Plan (ETP). It also has the potential to contribute to R&D in other NKEA’s including Palm oil and related products, Wholesale and retail, Tourism, Information and communication technology, Education services and Business services.

The Government of Malaysia has agreed to provide funding of RM113 million for capital and operational costs for 7 years to support the design, construction and maintenance of the CFFRC facilities on land adjacent to UNMC. In addition to offices and laboratories, CFFRC will include land for field experiments, biomes and polytunnels, demonstration plots, micropropagation facilities and a botanical garden of alternative plants.

CFFRC will contribute to environmental sustainability in two ways. First, the construction of the facilities will use green building technologies, employing energy saving, carbon-neutral processes and biomaterials. Second, since many underutilised crops are grown in hostile environments that are marginal for conventional agriculture, the research will contribute to agricultural diversification and agroecosystems in some of the most vulnerable areas of the world.

CFFRC is a university-wide initiative that transcends traditional disciplinary, faculty and campus boundaries. The School of Biosciences both in Malaysia and the UK will play a pivotal role in the development of many research activities. However, Research Value Chains on specific underutilised crops will require functional links that span molecular technologies, crop physiology and agronomy, plant analysis, product development, modelling, trade and regulatory frameworks and marketing of promising underutilised crops. An important area of research is knowledge systems and how these can be linked across the value chain so that local and vernacular knowledge of crops can be combined with experimental evidence and intelligent systems.

CFFRC is guaranteed by the Government of Malaysia and The University of Nottingham. A major priority of CFFRC is therefore to establish links with Malaysian Higher Education Institutions, research institutes and agencies involved with agricultural diversification and underutilised crops. Discussions are already underway on how leading universities and research partners, such as MARDI, can combine forces through CFFRC and The University of Nottingham to produce national research and development capacity on underutilised crops.

Through its international research mandate and underpinned by the strategic objectives of CFF and Bioversity International, CFFRC also seeks to establish active research collaborations with partners throughout the world and especially in the developing tropics.