. . .and recent research collaboration

ICARDA has also provided scientific support to USAID’s Technical Assistance Programs in developing countries. For instance, under the National Agricultural Research Project (NARP) supported by USAID in Egypt, ICARDA and CIMMYT assisted the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in their wheat breeding and agronomy research by providing scientific support and training.
     The Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at the Michigan State University has asked ICARDA to help test a model simulating crop yields in response to phosphate fertilizer application. This work, in collaboration with the University of Florida and the International Fertilizer Development Center, involves the use of data collected by ICARDA in Syria and neighboring countries. A PhD student from the University of Massachusetts is undertaking further field studies, based at ICARDA.
     In 1998, researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, visited ICARDA for a cooperative study on the relationship between child nutrition, household food systems, and poverty. The study involved three types of households: livestock producers, crop producers and urban consumers, with each group internally differentiated by income level.