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
5 August 2004
For more information contact:
Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
Pakistan's Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock Visits ICARDA
H.E. Mr Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind (left), Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Pakistan, and Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy (right), ICARDA Director General, signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Center’s headquarters on 25 July 2004.
H.E. Mr Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind, Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Pakistan, visited ICARDA on 24-25 July 2004 to discuss areas of collaboration in improving agricultural systems in dry areas and alleviating poverty in Pakistan. He was accompanied by his wife, Mrs Ayla Malik Rind, who is also a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, and Mr Manzoor Ulhaq, the Charge d'Affaires of the Pakistan Embassy in Syria.

Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, ICARDA Director General, welcomed the distinguished guests and outlined ICARDA's long history with Pakistan. He said Pakistan was an integral part of ICARDA's eco-geographical mandate region, and close ties have been developed between ICARDA and the national agricultural research and development programs in Pakistan since the Center's inception. This collaboration has provided improved germplasm, and barley, wheat, lentil, kabuli chickpea and forage legumes breeding material; support for integrated pest and disease management; and sustainable management of land and water resources. ICARDA has also conducted many scientific conferences and meetings in Pakistan, and provided capacity building and institutional strengthening.

The visitors enjoyed the evening at a dinner and reception hosted in their honor by Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy. H.E. Mr Osama Hamed Addy, the Governor of Aleppo; H.E. Dr Ahmad Hibbo, Chair of Baath Party of the University of Aleppo; Dr Mohammed Nizar Akeel, Rector of Aleppo University; Dr M. Khaldoun Durmosh, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture of Aleppo University, graced the occasion with their presence.

Prof. El-Beltagy described ICARDA's role in various projects in Pakistan including a major project in Balochistan. ICARDA provided technical support for strengthening the Arid Zone Research Institute in Quetta, undertook research on crop improvement, water harvesting and management, and introduced salt-bush for improving livestock feed and the socioeconomics of dry-area agriculture in Balochistan.
Visit of Pakistani Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock to Soran and ICARDA Laboratories and Farm
The Pakistani Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, accompanied by ICARDA staff, visited olive (left) and pistachio (right) plantations in the Soran area in Aleppo province.
Virology Laboratory
Biotechnology Laboratory
Water Harvesting and Water-Use Efficiency Research
Genebank
H.E. Mr Rind coming out of an underground qanat at Tel-Hadya.
The Pakistani delegation’s visit was covered by Syrian television.

ICARDA's collaboration with other institutes under the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), including the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) in Islamabad, has been intensive. As a result of this collaboration, improved varieties of ICARDA mandate crops have been released and a large number of young researchers trained. ICARDA has also worked with FAO in developing a special project for agricultural development in Balochistan with support from USAID. Prof. El-Beltagy hoped that the implementation of this project would start soon.

A recent example of ICARDA-Pakistan collaboration is the work that the Center is doing in the dry areas of the Punjab province. ICARDA is carrying out the adaptive research and technology transfer component of the Barani (Rainfed) Village Development Project (BVDP) with funding from the Government of Pakistan and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The project is based on the concept of integrated resource management and has been using a set of benchmark sites for conducting community-based research.

Mr Rind expressed great delight in visiting ICARDA. He appreciated ICARDA's efforts in supporting agricultural research and development in Pakistan for so many years and hoped that these efforts would get a further boost once the agreement to open a country office in Pakistan was signed. Mr Rind outlined his vision for increasing ICARDA's involvement in Pakistan's efforts to improve its agricultural sector, particularly in the dry areas. He said that Balochistan is embarking on an ambitious program for strengthening research infrastructure and developing human resource capacity, and ICARDA's input in this program would be helpful. He also requested ICARDA's involvement in identifying alternative food, feed and horticultural crops with improved water-use efficiency and economic returns to enhance the welfare of the people in the high-plateau dry areas.

The delegation visited olive and pistachio plantations in the Soran area of Aleppo Province and discussed crop husbandry and management with ICARDA and Syrian national program experts. These two tree crops were of special interest because of their high water-use efficiency and the Minister was happy to learn that different varieties of olive trees have already been sent to Pakistan for adaptive trials as part of the BVDP, and could also be evaluated in Balochistan.

The delegation returned to ICARDA and visited various research facilities, laboratories and fields and held engaging discussions with the scientists on the prospects of enhancing water-use efficiency and productivity in dry areas.

After the tour, H.E. Mr Rind signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy to strengthen further collaboration with various research and development agencies in Pakistan for the improvement of agriculture in dry areas.

The Director General hosted a dinner in the honor of the distinguished visitors, and various officials including H.E. Mr Osama Hamed Addy, the Governor of Aleppo; H.E. Dr Ahmad Hibbo, Chair of Baath Party of the University of Aleppo; Dr Mohammed Nizar Akeel, Rector of Aleppo University; Dr M. Khaldoun Durmosh, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Aleppo University; Mr Abdel Kader Issa, Director of Agriculture Directorate of Aleppo; and members of the senior management of ICARDA were present.

In his speech at the occasion, H.E. Mr Rind expressed great satisfaction in visiting ICARDA, and extended an invitation to Prof. El-Beltagy to visit Pakistan. He emphasized the importance of agricultural research and ICARDA's human capacity development efforts for the entire region of Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA). Mr Rind also described the strong relationship between Syria and Pakistan and hoped that these ties would become stronger through greater exchange of scientific knowledge between the two countries.

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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