ICARDA News

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS
P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105; E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
Website: www.icarda.cgiar.org
12 February 2004
For more information contact:
Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
Farmers Join Researchers in a Traveling Workshop in Sudan
Over 100 Sudanese farmers participated in the Traveling Workshop.
A national traveling workshop on food legumes and wheat was conducted in Sudan, 14-20 January 2004. It was organized by the Sudan Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), and covered the activities of the ICARDA/IFAD Nile Valley and Red Sea Regional Project "Technology Generation and Dissemination for Sustainable Production of Cereals and Cool-Season Food Legumes." Prof. Dr Al-Azhary Hamada, Director General of ARC, who also participated in the workshop, thanked IFAD and ICARDA for the support provided to Sudan through the project.

More than 100 farmers, 60 scientists from ARC, 6 Professors and 25 students from Faculties of Agriculture, Nahr El-Nile and Northern States, as well as extensionists from the Ministry of Agriculture, participated in the workshop. ICARDA was represented by Dr Ismail Ahmed, Project Coordinator.

Participants visited experimental plots at ARC research stations of Shambat, Hudeiba, Shendi, Dongla, and El-Geizera. They also visited the demonstration plots in farmers' fields at Berber and Aliab (Nahr El-Nile State), Selaim, Higher Terraces (Northern State) and El-Gezera Project (Wad Medani). At El-Gezera, the participants visited the Farmers' School, where researches and extensionists teach farmers recommended improved packages and technologies.
Farmers and researchers discuss ways to improve faba bean production.

Activities of the Project were reviewed in a participatory way. Farmers highlighted the importance of their participation in conducting demonstration plots in their fields, and interaction with the scientists and extension staff. They expressed satisfaction with the recommended production packages and improved cultivars.

At the end of the workshop, a wrap-up meeting was held and participants summarized their findings.

About ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.cgiar.org) serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil, and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants (sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of 62 members and 16 Future Harvest Centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment.
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