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Asia is home to the greatest number of farmers in the world.  It is also the world’s largest consumer market and the United States’ largest regional market for agricultural exports, including exports of corn, cotton, and soybeans.  Asia’s influence in global agricultural markets provides a strong rationale for continued technical exchanges and capacity building as a means to improve agricultural productivity and foster economic development in the region. 

Pakistan

For the past two years, Pakistani Borlaug Fellows have been provided with eight-week training sessions in wheat pathology and stem rust resistance at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico. These Borlaug Fellows are encouraged to share with members of their research community  new technologies and techniques acquired during their CIMMYT training.

Afghanistan

USDA has driven development in Afghanistan’s agriculture sector by training scientists in rangelands and watershed rehabilitation, natural resource management, horticulture, veterinary sciences and sanitary-phytosanitary practices. The guidance Fellows receive in agricultural extension and teaching methods equips them with improved capacity to develop Afghanistan’s educational institutions and transfer agricultural best practices to Afghan farmers.   

India 

The Borlaug Fellowship Program continues to support agricultural productivity and economic development in India by centering fellowship programs on specific trade and agribusiness issues.  Fellows receive training in fields such as food processing technologies, by- products utilization, water and natural resource management, biotechnology, food safety, agricultural economics and university capacity-building.  The India program is one of the largest Borlaug Fellowship programs in the world. 

China

The Borlaug Fellowship Program supports USDA’s commitment to exchanging information with Chinese government officials regarding the nature, use, and regulation of agricultural products derived through modern agricultural biotechnology.  The USDA has partnered with the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to offer Borlaug Fellowships as part of USTDA's larger U.S. - Sino Agricultural Biotechnology Safety Assessment Cooperative Program.  Borlaug Fellows’ research covers a variety of biotechnology issues: testing methodologies, biotechnological risk communication, veterinary biologics, and environmental risk management.   

Indonesia

The Borlaug Fellowship program extends fellowship opportunities to Indonesian scientists in the fields of plant genetics, food safety, climate change, and cocoa pest prevention.  The first Indonesian Global Cocoa Initiative fellow completed training in indentifying an aggressive cocoa-tree fungal pathogen at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in May, 2009. This fellowship was coordinated in conjunction with the World Cocoa Foundation.   

Philippines 

USDA has a strong commitment to advancing agricultural productivity, food security, sustainable natural resource management, and trade with the Republic of the Philippines.  The Borlaug Fellows Program focuses on technical training and post-graduate scientific research in the fields of biofuels, veterinary sciences, and bio-security. Supporting the Global Cocoa Initiative, the Borlaug Fellowship Program, in conjunction with the World Cocoa Foundation has provided training in insect breeding and drought-resistant cocoa tree breeding. 

Vietnam

The Borlaug Fellowship Program for Vietnam focuses on agricultural biotechnology and climate change topics. A fellow from Vietnam’s Agricultural Genetics Institute is currently receiving training on how to conduct a confined field trial for risk assessment of genetically modified crops which can be applied in Vietnam’s ecological conditions. The training includes the study of greenhouses and trial sites, design of trial protocol, and monitoring for risk assessment on biodiversity, non-target insects, soil ecosystems, and gene flow.  The fellowship program is being conducted by Iowa State University in collaboration with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.