The Global Forum identified commodity chains, both major crops and under-utilised species, as one of its priorities to facilitate research cooperation and promote partnerships. The proposed approach is based on the concept of a Global Programme.
Building its approach on lessons learnt from PROMUSA, a global programme developed by INIBAP, the GFAR Steering Committee mandated IPGRI to study the feasibility of establishing global programmes for commodity chains, and Cirad offered to cooperate on the topic of major commodity crops (citrus, cocoa, coconut, coffee, cotton, oil palm, pineapple, rubber and sugarcane). In September 1999, they jointly established a small facilitation unit, with an expert in commodity chains seconded by Cirad and based at INIBAP headquarters, in Montpellier. The Facilitation Unit reported regularly to the Steering Committee and will present a synthetic report of its work during the Committee meeting due to take place in May 2002.
A scientist has recently been appointed by Germany has recently been appointed to coordinate and facilitate activities on Under-utilised and Orphan Crops at the global level. She will work from the IPGRI headquarters in Rome.