Training Circle

The concept of training-the-trainer took a step forward in Yemen when four graduates of the ICARDA course for trainers organised in-country sessions on seed processing and economics.
          With training materials and technical backstopping from ICARDA, Khalid Hizam, Ibrahim Chejni, Abdul Baset Samad, and Najeed Mohammed used their new experience to set up the courses for Yemeni seed center managers and technicians. The courses coincided with the early stages of a World Bank Seed and Agricultural Services Project and gained widespread  recognition in the Yemeni media.

Water for Wealth

Improved water-use efficiency is the driving force behind two initiatives in Kazakhstan where ICARDA is to work with the Kazakh Research Institute of Water Resources of the National Academy Center for Agricultural Research (NACAR).
         About 10,000 hectares of land producing barley, alfalfa and sorghum could be irrigated using the 40 million m3 of treated wastewater available each year in the area around Sorbulak, north of Almaty. The joint project, based on a 300ha mixed farm, will develop integrated on-farm soil and water technologies to ensure safe use of water.
          The experience gained from the second research site near the Arys-Turkestan Canal in southern Kazakhstan is relevant not just to 150,000ha of irrigated land in the immediate area but also to many thousands more hectares in Central Asia that suffer from sub-optimal drainage. Irrigation regimes, crop rotations and improvements to drainage will be evaluated in this project which aims to reduce both leaching and the build-up of soil salinity.
Emphasis will be put on building the awareness among local farmers of the benefits to be gained from managing improved drainage.

Doubly Honored

Soil fertility specialist Dr John Ryan has been honored on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean for his substantial and valuable contribution to soil science. In his home country, the National University of Ireland has awarded the Doctor of Science (DSc) degree to Dr Ryan. The Soil Science Society of America has also recognized his achievements in his chosen field of research by selecting him as one of a small number of 1999 SSSA Fellows.

Swiss Cooperation

Vegetation and land use mapping for one million hectares of agricultural and rangeland in the Aleppo, Hama, and Homs provinces of Syria has been presented to the Ministry of Agriculture at the end of the first stage of the Arid Margins of Syria (AMS) project.
         The map, produced in conjunction with the University of Nantes, France, covers land along the 200 mm isohyet and steppe lines. The first phase of the AMS project, carried out in cooperation with the Syrian Ministry of Culture, focused on the history of the area. Now the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, ICARDA, and the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform propose using the information collected to safeguard rangelands from desertification in the second phase.

Striving for Quality

The Mediterranean table groans with food made from quality durum wheat from the WANA region.
With this in mind, a plant breeding seminar on durum, jointly organized by ICARDA, is being staged on 12-14 April 2000, at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute in Zaragoza, Spain. More details by e-mail from: iamz@iamz.ciheam.org