ICARDA's provision of technical support to resource management and rural development projects has effectively contributed to sustaining fragile resource bases, and improving the livelihoods and welfare of the rural poor in CWANA. Assessments in 2002 showed that research and development (R&D) programs, conducted in collaboration with ICARDA and with the participation of farming communities, have improved the design and implementation of development projects in Egypt and Pakistan. These successes highlighted opportunities for international agricultural research centers (IARCs) to play a more direct role in rural development, and also the need to develop new concepts and methodologies for use in this context.

Research and development projects:
sustaining the resource base, and improving the livelihoods of the rural poor

In Egypt, between 1996 and 2001, ICARDA provided around 4000 person-days of on-site technical assistance, and over 1500 person-days of overseas training, to support the Matrouh Resource Management Project. It also contributed to project management, financial management, and monitoring and evaluation of the US$29.6 million research-based rural development project.
     The project aimed at breaking the degradation cycle and improving the livelihoods of the rural poor in Egypt's Northwest Coast region-a very poor, semi-desert environment with a fragile natural resource base. Acknowledging the impressive achievements of the project, the Government of Egypt and international funding agencies (World Bank, IFAD, and GEF) have provided tentative funding of about US$50 million for a second 5-year phase.
     ICARDA has provided assistance to all programs within the project. In the Soil and Water Management Program, technical support was given to many R&D activities. These included determining runoff coefficients, improving the design and positioning of water-harvesting structures (then testing and disseminating them), and adopting an integrated watershed planning approach. Project interventions increased the area's water supply by more than 50%; 1.2 million m³ of rainwater was harvested in 8000 cisterns and conserved for human, livestock and crop use. Small dikes were established, providing water to 2000 ha of orchards, and soil was conserved on thousands of hectares, through engineering and cultural measures. Some 58% of the 17,500 project households benefited from these efforts.

reduced by about 20%. Farmers were supported both in collecting and multiplying the seeds of rangeland plants, so conserving many threatened species, and in establishing private nurseries and adopting improved nursery techniques. Impact studies showed that 67% of rangeland holders benefited from this program, while 45% increased their income by 25% to 50%.
     Crop Improvement R&D programs increased the productivity of cropping systems. For barley, ICARDA introduced its participatory breeding approach, as well as a new agronomic package, and the use of rotations or mixtures of feed legumes and fodder shrubs. ICARDA also introduced improved germplasm and cultural practices for fruit production. About 53% of barley producers (farming 27,300 ha) increased their yields, by between 20% and 100%. About 62% of fruit producers (on 14,700 ha) also increased their yields-by 25-200%. Fig and olive yields rose by 60%, and the average farm income rose by 52%.
     In the Livestock Improvement component, 49% of animal breeders adopted new technologies. Of these, 65% increased livestock productivity by 25%, while 8% realized increases of 50% or more. Improvements included rotating rams, fattening early-weaned lambs, crossbreeding with Shami goats, introducing new poultry breeds, feeding with urea-treated straw and olive-pulp cakes, and improving veterinary services.
     In the area of human resource development, on-the-job training upgraded staff and farmers' skills and capacities, and speeded-up the implementation of project activities. Overseas training, particularly joint 'researcher-extensionist-farmer' study tours, enhanced the adoption of new technologies.
     In Pakistan, in an area with better agroclimatic and socioeconomic conditions than the Matrouh project, ICARDA has been contracted to provide technical assistance to the research component of the Barani Village Development Project. This six-year project (1999-2005) aims to sustain the resource base and alleviate the high poverty levels in Barani (in the Punjab region). With virtually all arable land and water resources being used, the pressure on the limited natural resources has reached critical levels.
     The Barani project has R&D programs for community development, including those aimed at women, water management and soil conservation, crop and livestock improvement, and enterprise development. The programs are implemented in collaboration with research institutes, extension agencies, NGOs, and farmer organizations. Most work is conducted on farm at three integrated research sites (IRS), representing a range of agroclimatic and socioeconomic conditions. Technical backstopping, by ICARDA, has focused on integrated production systems and on improving water and land management. Furthermore, ICARDA is both introducing proven technologies developed in similar agroecologies, and supporting the program's research component through training and capacity building.
     Assessment of adoption and impact is ongoing, and has shown that the project achieved promising results in its first three years. New germplasm, agronomic practices, and location-specific packages have increased crop production by 60-100%. Stone-outlets on earth dikes have been redesigned, and have regulated water flow and improved water distribution on a large scale. Soil conservation technologies (growing fruit trees on eroded gullies with micro-water harvesting or supplemental irrigation techniques, and the reseeding of indigenous fodder species) were well-received by farmers, as was feed-block technology. R&D plans have been made to test, and provide to farmers, several types of water-harvesting techniques that will improve water-use efficiency, conserve soil, and increase farm incomes. Also planned are interventions to encourage the establishment of family or community-based seed enterprises, as is an investigation into efficient mechanisms for handling the feed-block technology.
     ICARDA's technical assistance has also highlighted the need to:

• develop more effective collaboration between project stakeholders-to improve community-based approaches to R&D;
• inform farmers, at the IRS, of the R&D programs-through extension pamphlets and mass media;
• develop a monitoring-and-evaluation system and indicators-to investigate the sustainability of the project's impact on the natural resource base and poverty;
• support in-country, formal and on-the-job training for project personnel and farmers; and
• organize regular consultation meetings with farmers' organizations-to develop mechanisms for community management of water resources and rangeland.

     Useful lessons relevant to IARCs can be learnt from ICARDA's new partnership experiences. Indeed, the World Bank considered the Matrouh project to be one of its most successful pioneer resource management and rural development projects, and one which could be adopted elsewhere in marginal dryland areas. It specifically acknowledged the role of ICARDA's technical support.
     Besides the required budgets and the motivation of all stakeholders to develop the area, the main factors contributing to the project's success were the use of an innovative management model and participatory approaches, the establishment of an efficient monitoring and evaluation system, and the building of staff and farmers' skills and capacities.
     Conversely, development projects could themselves provide opportunities for IARCs, as they provide an ideal setting in which to conduct strategic research programs. The projects are long term and multi-institutional, and integrate research, extension and development efforts. They can thus facilitate integrated research on biophysical and socioeconomic issues over large areas, as well as upon technology transfer (including the assessment of real adoption and impact).
     ICARDA is seeking new ways to integrate its research activities into rural development projects and build up the technical and managerial capacities necessary for this. Careful thought is needed, to ensure that research is both applicable to, and beneficial in, a development-project context.