News from
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| Dr Margaret Catley-Carlson, Chair, ICARDA Board of Trustees, welcomed guests at the Presentation Day. |
The annual Presentation Day, organized by ICARDA, brings ministers, ambassadors and other senior officials from the embassies in Damascus, leaders of national programs in CWANA, and media representatives to the Center.
Dr Catley-Carlson said that attending Presentation Days helps in understanding the multifaceted work of the Center and its achievements. She pointed out that ICARDA’s work is carried out in collaboration with national agricultural research organizations, international agricultural research agencies, and other organizations mandated to operationalize such major conventions as those on Climate Change and Biodiversity. ICARDA is, therefore, “A Center Beyond Walls.”
Citing examples of ICARDA’s successful work with partners in several countries, Dr Catley-Carlson said the Center’s work is evident in the improved agricultural production in the region. “We are proud of the good work which the Center has done in this region despite considerable challenges of the weather, rainwater availability and extreme variability,” she added.
Dr Catley-Carlson explained that water availability is the lens through which all entities of ICARDA view their work. She noted that water is crucial to the Center’s eco-region which faces the threat of desertification. “We must hold back the process of desertification; we must hold on to the water and the soil resources which are even more precious in this region because there is always a challenge to maintain them in the best possible state,” she observed.
To the donors, who make the work of ICARDA possible, Dr Catley-Carlson said “thank you for believing in ICARDA enough to continue to give financial support and please give more.”
Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, ICARDA Director General, then welcomed the guests and presented an overview of the challenges facing the poor in the Center’s mandate region and the work ICARDA is doing with its partners to improve their livelihoods through agricultural research. He said that the West Asia and North Africa region faces the most serious threat of water shortage, which is likely to lead to decreased agricultural production. “War, civil conflicts and natural disasters are further compounding human misery and destroying natural resources,” he added.
To address the challenges, international and regional organizations alone cannot make a difference; it is the responsibility of the developing countries to create conditions conducive to development, said Dr El-Beltagy. Citing a recent study of WANA NARS, he noted that “the average investment on agricultural research for 18 WANA countries was found to be 0.41% of the Gross Domestic Product. This is much below the 1.5% level recommended by the World Bank, the European Union, IFPRI and other organizations. There is an urgent need to increase national investments in agricultural research.”
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| At the opening of Presentation Day, Dr Margaret Catley-Carlson, ICARDA Board Chair, and Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, ICARDA Director General, welcomed the guests on behalf of the Board, Management and Staff of the Center. Among the dignitaries who were present at the celebrations were: H.E. Mr Sayed Hussain Anwari, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Afghanistan; H.E. Dr Adel Safar, Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Syria; H.E. Mr Gholamreza Sahraian, First Deputy Minister, H.E. Dr Abdol Mehdi Bakhshandeh, Deputy Minister for Planning and Economy and Prof. Dr Ali Ahoonmanesh, Deputy Minister and Head of AREO, Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture, Iran; H.E. Mr Abdul Kareem Mohammad Al Amri, President, AAAID, UAE; Dr Abdul Illah Hamid Mohammed (former Minister of Agriculture, Iraq), AAAID, UAE; Dr Mumtaz Ahmad, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Pakistan; Dr Azzam Tubailey, Secretary General, Ministry of Agriculture, Palestine; Ambassadors of Algeria (H.E. Mr Kamel Bouchema), Egypt (H.E. Mr Hazem Khairat), Indonesia (H.E. Dr Sukarni Sikar), Morocco (H.E. Mr Abdelouahab Bellouki), Sweden (H.E. Ms Viola Furubjelke), Switzerland (H.E. Mr Jacques de Walteville), and Tunisia (H.E. Mr Ezzedine Kerkanir); Chargé d’Affaires of Netherlands (Mr Jilles Beschoor Plug); Second Secretary of Japanese Embassy ( Mr Takeshi Okuda); Consul General of Armenia (Mr Armen Melkonian) and Turkey (Mr Hulusi Kilic); Attaché of French Embassy (Mr Wael Kaadan); Resident Representative, UNDP-PAPP, Palestine (Mr Timothy Rothermel); Dr Scott Christiansen, USAID/ANE/TS/ENV, USA; Dr Wadia Abdulsattar, USAID, Yemen; Resident Representative, JICA, Syria (Mr Kazuhide Nagasawa); JICA, Jordan (Dr Tikkosato); Prof. Dr Iwao Kobori, former Vice-Chair of ICARDA Board, UNU, Japan; Heads of National Research Programs: Dr Dir Dad Punjsheri, Afghanistan; Dr Kamal Feliachi, Algeria; Dr Hamid Narjisse, Morocco; Dr Belgacem Henchi, CITET, Tunisia; Dr Fethi Labdi, INAT, Tunisia; Dr Diallo Boubacar Cisse, Mauritania; Prof. Dr M. Abbas Mabrouk, DRC, Egypt; Dr Hassaneen El Gabbas and Dr El Azhari Hamada, ARC, Sudan; Dr Abera Deressa, EARO, Ethiopia; Dr Kidane Asmeron, NARI, Eritrea; Dr M.S. Islam, BARI, Bangladesh; Dr Masood Ali, IIPR, India; Dr Majed Jamal, GCSAR, Syria; Dr Mesut Keser, GAP, Turkey; Dr Kadir Melan, GDAR, Turkey; and Dr Adel Judah, ACSAD, Syria. | |
The Director General also said that the Center is developing a new strategic plan based on a 5 to 10-year future vision, which will take into consideration ICARDA’s internal and external environments. “The new plan is built upon the recommendations from the regional priority setting for agricultural research, and takes into account the on-going changes in agriculture and the environment globally,” he said.
On ICARDA’s work in germplasm conservation, the DG said that the Center has continued to increase its collections. “Most valuable were 529 unique accessions of bread and primitive wheat, originating from the germplasm collections of Vavilov and his colleagues before 1941 and donated to ICARDA by the Vavilov Institute (VIR), St Petersburg, Russia. To date, ICARDA has embarked on 10 such collection missions in all eight countries in the Central Asia and the Caucasus region. These missions have collected over 2300 unique genotypes that are now held in ICARDA’s genebank.” He cited several examples of ICARDA’s achievements in germplasm enhancement, natural resource management and human resource development.
Reporting on ICARDA’s work in conflict situations, the DG expressed satisfaction with the work of the ICARDA-led Future Harvest Consortium in Afghanistan. “In a short period of about two years, we see the work of the Consortium leading to increased availability of food; an increase in household incomes; a restoration in social stability; crop diversification to wean farmers away from poppy production, and above all, confidence of the people of Afghanistan in the work of ICARDA-led Consortium.”
The DG informed the guests that ICARDA is working with other CG Centers on a consortium approach for rebuilding agriculture in Iraq. He said the objectives will be to immediately multiply and deliver quality seed of adapted varieties, provide technical assistance in the development of sustainable agriculture, and develop a strategy that will ensure a close integration of relief, rehabilitation and development activities.
In spite of the serious security problems and constraints, Dr El-Beltagy said that ICARDA has continued to work in Palestine. The Center is working with local and international partners under a GEF/UNDP-funded project on in situ conservation of dryland agrobiodiversity in Palestine. In addition, ICARDA has to date trained more than 62 researchers from Palestine. “We hope peace will soon return to Palestine, so we can, using a consortium approach, speedily contribute to improving the livelihood of the people in the country,” he added.
The DG thanked the investors whose continued support enables the Center to achieve its mission, and paid tribute to the national agricultural research systems in the region with whom ICARDA carries out its activities. He expressed special thanks to the people of Aleppo for their hospitality and to the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic for its generous and continued support to ICARDA.
The guests visited ICARDA’s farm and toured the Biotechnology Laboratory, Milk Products Processing Laboratory, Virology Laboratory, Animal Nutrition Laboratory, and the Water Harvesting Demonstration Trials to get a flavor of ICARDA’s research.
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© 2008 International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
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