Ties that
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| IFAD President, Mr Lennart Båge (center) along with H.E. Dr Adel Safar (right), Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Syria, and Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, ICARDA DG, visited the plaque at the entrance of ICARDA’s Administration Building which is inscribed with an acknowledgement of IFAD’s support for the construction of the building. |
ICARDA Director General, Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, welcomed Mr Båge and expressed gratitude for IFAD’s generous support for the construction of the Center’s Administration and Training Building. He also acknowledged IFAD’s continuous support for research on improving the livelihoods of rural communities in the dry areas.
Mr Båge visited ICARDA’s laboratories and held discussions with senior management and scientists on ways to meet the challenges of poverty reduction and mitigate the degradation of natural resources in the region. He expressed great appreciation for ICARDA’s work. “I had heard of the good work the Center was doing,” Mr Båge said. “But now I have seen it myself.”
Through its proactive role in the CGIAR governance and financial support for specific non-core programs, IFAD has directed the CGIAR research agenda towards the needs of the rural poor, sustainable management and capacity building of NARS.
The partnership between ICARDA and IFAD dates back to the inception of both organizations in 1977. IFAD is a major donor and key supporter of ICARDA’s research targeting the poor. ICARDA’s research funded by IFAD has helped resource-poor farmers by increasing crop yields in their fields, providing improved measures for crop protection, and preventing environmental degradation in the dry areas. ICARDA has also been able to undertake highly successful research projects, such as the Nile Valley Faba Bean Project in Egypt and Sudan and the Livestock Integration Project in Central Asia, that have demonstrated significant impact on development in rural areas. The output of ICARDA’s research has provided technologies for use in investment projects supported by IFAD in the CWANA region. ICARDA scientists have also backstopped IFAD field projects by providing training.
An example of this fruitful partnership is the Mashreq/Maghreb Project that IFAD, along with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), funded from 1995 to 2002 with the main aim of developing more productive and sustainable small ruminant-based systems through the integration of crop and livestock production within and across barley and rangeland-based systems.
ICARDA scientists developed new “best-bet” packages that include practices to enhance fertility and lambing rates, and rehabilitate rangelands using fodder shrubs like Atriplex and cactus. Farmers in various communities throughout the region have started to adopt these practices and benefit from improvements. For example, in the Zoghmar community in Tunisia, the adoption rate of planting cactus in the rangelands has risen to 46%. Using cactus is resulting in a 50% reduction of fallow and degraded land.
The next step is to repeat this community-based approach over a large geographical area and to overcome policy and institutional constraints. To achieve this, in April 2004, IFAD committed US$1.3 million to “Developing Sustainable Livelihoods of Agropastoral Communities of WANA,” a project that will continue until 2007.
IFAD’s mandate is to fund rural development projects that will improve the nutritional level and living conditions of the poorest populations in developing countries. IFAD joined the CGIAR in 1979 and became a cosponsor in 2001. In the past 25 years, IFAD has committed approximately US$ 120 million for 127 CGIAR-led research programs.
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© 2008 International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
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