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The Highland Regional Program
(HRP) addresses the constraints to agricultural production in the highland
areas of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, the Atlas mountain
range in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, and the highland areas in Central
Asia and the Caucasus. ICARDA has a major collaborative project with
Iran, supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran
Collaborative research
In 2002, collaboration between Iran and ICARDA witnessed a significant
increase in joint research and training activities and in on-farm demonstration
and adoption of research results.
Demonstration activities covered over 4,000
hectares in four provinces, as opposed to less than 100 hectares in
2001. In wheat, yield superiority in different areas was generally over
50% (0.6-1.5 t/ha in traditional farming and 1-2.5 t/ha in farms with
improved technology). Similar results were observed for other crops,
including chickpea and barley.
'Azar2' wheat continued to yield well under
rainfed dry conditions of the cold-winter areas. 'Sahand' barley continued
to perform well in cold-winter areas and 'Sararood-1' in moderately
cold areas. Candidates for release in 2002 included: (i) wheat lines
Sbn/1-64-199; Fenkang/Sefid; and 87Zhong291; (ii) barley lines Yesevi
and ICB111838; and (iii) chickpea lines: FLIP 90-96C, FLIP 93-93C; FLIP
84-42C; and FLIP 86-108C. The yellow rust epidemic damaged both wheat
(cv. "Sabalan" has become susceptible) and barley in Khorasan
Province.
The area under newly introduced oilseed crop,
rapeseed, expanded to 48,000 ha, with an average yield of 1.43 t/ha,
which compares well with the world average for this crop. However, it
is being grown mainly in irrigated or high-rainfall warm areas. Some
progressive farmers there have obtained as high yield as 5 t/ha. Results
indicate that rapeseed cannot be cultivated successfully in cold- or
moderately- cold winter areas under rainfed conditions without a high
risk of crop failure. Safflower is found more suited to dry areas than
rapeseed, but is a longer-season crop and tends to deplete soil moisture,
with an obviously negative effect on the following crop.
Workshops
and meetings
An Interregional Cotton Workshop was held in October at AREO (Agricultural
Research and Education Organization), Tehran, Iran, with participants
from Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
and from the workshop sponsors: AREO, AARINENA, GFAR, CAC-Forum, APAARI,
and ICARDA. A representative from EU also participated. The participants
stressed the importance of cotton as a fiber crop, being also a source
of edible oil, feed, and fuel, and as a key component of rotation systems
(e.g. cotton-wheat) in many areas of the region. They agreed to establish
an "Interregional Network for Research Collaboration on Sustainable
Cotton Production in Asia and North Africa."
Two major meetings related to seed were organized:
(1) "Iran/ICARDA National Seed Workshop," held at SPII premises
in Karaj, Iran, in October. Participants were seed specialists from
different Iranian institutions, as well as experts or consultants from
ICARDA, ISTA, UPOV, OECD, CIHEAM, and from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco,
Syria, Turkey, and UK. (2) "Workshop on Review of National Seed
Systems and Seed Regulations in Central and West Asian Countries,"
also held at SPII, in November. Participants came from Afghanistan,
Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Kazakstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Turkey and Uzbekistan as well as from FAO, ICARDA, ISTA, and UPOV.
The Tenth Iran/ICARDA Annual Coordination/Planning
Meeting took place at Maragheh on 31 August to 3 September, with participation
of over 70 Iranian and 10 ICARDA scientists. Results of 2002 and plan
of work for DARI/ICARDA projects in 2003 were discussed, and finalized.
A plan for collaboration in management of marginal rangelands was also
discussed among ICARDA, RIFR, DARI, and Provincial Range and Forestry
Department in Kermashah.
Within the framework of the Water Challenge
Program, a team of IWMI, ICARDA and Iranian scientists met twice (in
June and September) in Iran to discuss a plan for joint research and
application of improved management of water resources for increased
water-use efficiency in the Karkheh River Basin, in western Iran. ICARDA's
input in the tripartite collaboration will be in the areas of water-use
efficiency at the farm level, including supplementary irrigation, water
harvesting, use of marginal water, and development and use of water-efficient
crop cultivars and techniques.
The second annual meeting of the "Sunn
Pest IPM Project" was held in Tehran, in October. Scientists from
the three countries involved in the Project (Iran, Syria, and Turkey),
and from ICARDA, University of Vermont, CABI, and NRI, reviewed research
results obtained by the different parties during the second year of
the Project, developed a work plan for 2002/03, prepared a concept note
for a second phase of the Project, and discussed and agreed upon an
overall agenda for an International Conference on Sunn Pest to be held
at ICARDA in 2004.
Human
resource development
Twenty-five Iranian participants from different research and extension
organizations visited ICARDA for 1 to 9 weeks to participate in courses
on integrated diseases or insect pest management, cereal or legume crop
breeding, seed production, water management, technology adoption, electronic
documentation, and scientific writing. In addition, two junior researchers
from DARI received 1-month on-the-job training in oilseed crop (rapeseed
and safflower) improvement at the Institute of Agronomy and Plant Breeding
of Georg-August University, Gottingen, Germany.
Twenty Iranian students pursued their PhD degree
studies at universities in Australia, Canada, Europe, India, or Japan.
Five training courses were conducted during
2002 in Iran: (i) "DNA Markers for Crop Improvement," jointly
conducted by Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute (ABRII),
Iran and ICARDA, at Karaj, in May, with participation of 16 trainees,
and 5 scientists from ICARDA, and 2 consultants, one each from Germany
and Denmark; (ii) "Farmer Participatory Training and Research,"
jointly conducted with Plant Pests and Diseases Research Institute (PPDRI),
Tehran, in June, with two instructors, one each from PPDRI and CABI-UK,
and 20 trainees, including farmers, extension and research staff, all
involved in Sunn pest control activities; (iii) "Monitoring and
Evaluation of On-Farm Trials and Technology Adoption," jointly
conducted with AREO at Maragheh, with field visits to other sites, in
June, with 18 research and extension staff and 25 farmers; (iv) "Seed
Science and Technology" conducted with SPII-Karaj, in June, with
20 Iranian participants; (v) "Wheat Transformation," held
in October at ABRII, Karaj, with 15 participants from different Iranian
institutions, and instructors from CIMMYT, ICARDA and Iran.
Four staff members of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Livestock of Afghanistan received training in Sunn pest control
at the PPDRI, Tehran, in June.
Turkey
The joint Turkey/CIMMYT/ICARDA
Winter Wheat Improvement Program continued to collaborate with NARS
in the region. Germplasm is developed and tested in Turkey and Syria
before it is dispatched to a large number of sites. Five international
nurseries were sent to 30 cooperators in CWANA for testing and selection
by NARS.
Sets of international nurseries (35 for winter
facultative wheat, 7 for durum wheat, 6 for spring bread wheat, 11 for
barley, 9 for lentil, 31 for chickpea, and 11 for forage legumes) were
provided to Turkish partners for testing at research institutes and
universities in various regions.
ICARDA scientists are collaborating with colleagues
in the United States and Turkey to use naturally occurring fungi to
control Sunn pest, which severely reduces yield and quality of wheat.
About US$15 million is spent annually on chemical sprays to combat the
pest in Turkey. The team is looking at the use of appropriate fungi
as soft insecticides. Efforts are being made to have communities of
farmers and extension agents work together to address the problem.
ICARDA, in partnership with Southeast Anatolian
Research and Development Administration (GAP-RDA), is helping to improve
the production, productivity, and nutritional quality of food, while
preserving the natural resource base. GAP-RDA/ICARDA partnership activities
in research and development included two projects:
- On-farm demonstrations
and seed multiplication
- Improvement of natural
pastures and forage crops and small-ruminant production
ICARDA is providing technical backstopping to establish a Seed Technology
Center at Dicle University, including a seed processing plant, with
financial support from the GAP project, to clean and treat the seed
produced by the University.
ICARDA provided seeds of vetch (Vicia spp.),
which will benefit the farmers in the GAP region. Improved vetch varieties
in the cropping system would offer an environmentally sound and productive
alternative to monoculture. Also, ICARDA is helping GAP to introduce
Mucuna spp. (velvet beans) as a solution to the feed shortage in the
region, in cooperation with the International Institute for Tropical
Agriculture (IITA).
To transfer the experience to neighboring countries,
ICARDA, in collaboration with Turkey, organized a traveling workshop
on crop diversification and conservation tillage in Turkey for researchers
and farmers from Central Asia and the Caucasus on "On-Farm Soil
and Water Management for Sustainable Agricultural System in Central
Asia," in May. A training course on animal epidemiology for four
scientists from Central Asian countries was also organized on 15 January
to 14 February at Konya University.
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