Bread wheat is the principal food source for most people in CWANA. The average person consumes more than 170 kg per year, the highest per capita consumption of wheat in the world. This dependence on wheat, combined with rapid population growth and increasing desertification, makes this region the world's largest wheat importer. Poor farmers struggling to provide food for a growing population face formidable constraints, the foremost being the lack of water. Most of them depend on meager rainfall to grow their crops. Yields are low and the crop is attacked by a number of diseases and insect pests. Improved wheat varieties resistant to pests and diseases and tolerant to drought, along with techniques for efficient water management, are needed to boost wheat production.

Wild relatives of wheat: susceptible (in the middle) versus resistant to Sunn pest.

September 2002.
     Mr Robert Havener and Dr Alex McCalla, ICARDA and CIMMYT Board Chairmen, respectively, were present. They both stressed the importance of the meeting in planning for future joint CIMMYT/ICARDA wheat improvement activities in CWANA. Senior scientists from both centers participated in the meeting. Dr Ronnie Coffman, from Cornell University and a former ICARDA Board Member, served as moderator.
The two centers committed themselves to a single CIMMYT/ICARDA joint program with renewed enthusiasm to increase wheat production in the different agroecologies of CWANA, with the goal of delivering sustainable wheat production technologies designed to improve rural livelihoods in the region.

Sunn pest is a major insect pest of bread wheat in the cooler areas of Central and West Asia. Pest resistance has been elusive to date. A novel screening technique has been developed over the last three years, in collaboration with NARS partners in Syria, and is being used in artificial infestation trials. The test uses mesh screen cages (6 m x 9 m x 3 m), and is carried out in two stages (preliminary and advanced evaluation). In the preliminary screening, wheat entries are planted in hill plots at the usual fall planting time. Sunn pest adults are then introduced (at a rate of 6/m2) during the period when the insects naturally migrate to wheat fields. The parameters used in evaluating resistance are shoot, leaf and spike damage. In the advanced screening, wheat lines selected in the first stage are planted in rows 1-m long. A cage of uninfested plants is used as control. Test plants are then infested (at a rate of 2 adults/m2), again during the period when the insects normally migrate to wheat fields; later, the number of nymphs is adjusted to 8-10/m2. In the advanced screening, the parameters used to evaluate resistance are the same as those used in the preliminary screening; in addition, the weight of 1000 kernels was recorded, and grain-quality tests were conducted. Several promising lines of wheat and its wild relatives have been identified. Germplasm with confirmed resistance to Sunn pest will be used to develop resistant wheat varieties for use in Central and West Asia.

Industry awareness

The joint bread wheat improvement program is placing a major emphasis on grain quality. In December 2002, CIMMYT and ICARDA co-hosted the first Lebanon/Syria Grain Quality Symposium bringing together millers, bakers, brewers and breeders for a one-day meeting at Tel Amara, Lebanon. The meeting was attended by more than 50 participants representing both private and public milling, baking and brewing enterprises. Not surprisingly, the focus of the user community was quality. The structure of crop subsidies in the Levant countries favors yield per hectare, with no premiums being offered by government purchasers for either protein content or milling or brewing quality. Nonetheless, discussions demonstrated that the private sector was willing and able to work around this problem, and would be willing to purchase high quality wheat at a premium from specific wheat producing communities. This brings a new dimension to participatory crop improvement research- not only encouraging producers to identify varieties based on production characteristics, but encouraging the user community to work with producer communities to identify varieties that fit both local ecological niches and end-user needs.