Introduction

The Indian National Agricultural Research System (NARS) has been in the forefront of developing suitable technologies for the farming community as well as generating scientific knowledge in agriculture and allied sectors. Application of basic strategic & applied research is imperative for technology development in the frontier areas of agriculture. Realizing its importance, the Government of India established a national fund to support basic and strategic research with the objective of building capacity in basic and strategic research for solving agricultural problems of immediate, long-term and anticipatory nature. This would help in building partnership of required expertise available in various disciplines and institutions across the country to make India a global leader in research and development.
The Fund was named as 'The National Fund for Basic, Strategic and Frontier Application Research in Agriculture' (NFBSFARA). With the experience gathered, results obtained and the base created during the plan periods (X and XI Plan), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi decided for a wider perspective and arena of NFBSFARA. It was realized that a strong and sustainable platform would help to develop scientific temperament, capacity and culture in the NARS to ensure continuous flow of knowledge, best and appropriate frontier technologies for solving problems in agriculture as well as providing suggestions for science-based policy in agriculture. Commensurate with this requirement, the name of the Fund was changed to 'National Agricultural Science Fund' (NASF) during the XII Plan.