| ICARDA :: Sustainable Agriculture for the Dry Areas

ICARDA's growing partnership with China

In a sign of ICARDA’s growing ties with China, the Center recently hosted a delegation of leading Chinese scientists at its offices in Beirut, Lebanon, and Amman, Jordan. The researchers, from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), discussed on-going and future collaborations, and a joint proposal for funding to initiate projects on supplemental irrigation, crop productivity, and crop-livestock production systems.

ICARDA and CAAS have a long-standing partnership stretching back to the early 1980s, incorporating a wide range of activities – from capacity development to crop improvement and the exchange of germplasm. The delegation, led by Dr. Zhang Yanging, met with ICARDA’s senior management, including the Center’s Director General, Dr. Mahmoud Solh, and senior scientists covering the breadth of ICARDA’s research portfolio: crop improvement; integrated water and land management; geoinformatics; diversification and sustainable intensification; and social, economic, and policy research.

CAAS scientists also visited research stations where ICARDA has continued to carry out its research activities following the operationalization of the Center’s decentralization strategy – Mushager Research Station in Jordan and Terbol Station in the Beka’a Valley, Lebanon.

The visit and discussions helped to crystallize thinking on a series of collaborative activities that both organizations will take forward over the coming years, including: using conservative agriculture to enhance wheat and maize production; scientific exchange programs; and initiatives to enhance ‘system’ approaches to agricultural research in China. It was also agreed that ICARDA’s South Asia and China Regional Program hold its coordination meeting in China in June, 2014.

Finally, the delegation discussed the activation of the Center of Excellence for Dryland Agriculture (CEDA) in Beijing, a collaborative platform for agricultural research established by CAAS, ICARDA and ICRISAT, which is implementing a research agenda for China’s dry areas. ICARDA/CAAS priority areas within the CEDA framework include enhanced eco-intensification to improve crop productivity, strengthened crop-livestock production to improve resilience and livelihoods, and the development of improved varieties of barley and faba bean. Over the coming years, it was agreed that CEDA would also initiate partnerships with other Chinese institutions and serve as a center for training and staff exchange.

The CAAS delegation discussed on-going and future collaborations with ICARDA management and senior scientists

Improved chickpea strengthens food security in Sudan

Chickpea is an important food legume crop in Sudan. It is important economically – as a cash crop that generates income for farmers and rural communities – and as a significant source of protein for poor people. Despite this, production fluctuates widely and farmers face a number of debilitating constraints: the widespread incidence of disease, the destructive activities of pests, parasitic weeds, and limited access to quality high-yielding cultivars.

In response, a wheat-legumes project managed by ICARDA and funded by the EU and IFAD is testing, validating, and disseminating proven technologies and techniques to help Sudanese chickpea farmers overcome these limitations and raise their productivity.

Over recent months, the Project has demonstrated high-yielding varieties of chickpea to farmers and other stakeholders in the Gezira region, and other areas throughout the River Nile State. In Gezira, the varieties Salawa and Burgieg have performed extremely well, generating an average 4.01 and 3.84 t/ha, respectively – far higher than the 1.66 t/ha average achieved by traditional crops.

Researchers have also sought solutions to control weeds which commonly constrain the growth of Sudan’s chickpea plants. Research activities have verified the activity and selectivity of the herbicide oxyfluorfen. The application of this herbicide generated a demonstrable increase in yields – in fields where no control measures were applied losses due to weed growth approached 75%. Furthermore, visual observations revealed that chickpea crops demonstrated no signs of phytotoxic symptoms.

The initiative has also taken forward ambitious breeding programs in Sudan that will boost the country’s reserves of improved high-yielding cultivars and strengthen national food security. A breeding program in northern Sudan, for instance, is maintaining released chickpea varieties; producing breeder seed of cultivars; and improving promising lines of reified, stable and high-yielding varieties that possess tolerance to biotic stresses and combine large seed size, earliness, and suitability for mechanical harvesting.

In addition, researchers have conducted experiments to select suitable genotypes for different agro-climatic regions in Sudan. Twenty one chickpea genotypes were introduced from ICARDA to screen performance under Sudan’s heat stress conditions in different locations.

Results showed significant differences, and researchers were able to successfully identify varieties that were high-yielding from those susceptible to the harsh conditions prevalent in Sudan. Resistance to wilt diseases, particularly Fusarium wilt, as well as root rot, bacteria, and nematodes that affect the vascular system of plants were also investigated. Out of eight varieties tested, local varieties - Shendi, Jebl Marra and Mattama - demonstrated the highest disease incidence and severity. Several chickpea genotypes - FLIP03-59C (large seeded) and FLIP02-88C (adapted to mechanical harvesting) – demonstrated resistance to wilt and root rot complex disease.

The ICARDA-managed initiative is testing, validating, and disseminating proven technologies and techniques to help Sudanese chickpea farmers to raise their productivity

Spreading the benefits of conservation agriculture in Morocco

Conservation Agriculture – the practice of not plowing farmlands and leaving crop residue in the field for improved soil fertility and water conservation – holds significant promise for the dry areas of North Africa, where ICARDA is promoting the technique to help farmers cope with prolonged droughts and the negative impacts of climate change.

As part of its efforts, the Center is organizing training courses to raise the capacity of regional scientists, researchers and extension specialists, equipping them with the knowledge and the skills to demonstrate the benefits of conservation agriculture to North African farmers. A course was recently held at the Moroccan National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA) to educate attendees on the proper application of pesticides and other techniques relevant to the practice of conservation agriculture.

The course brought together experts from various disciplines to exchange information and experience on the most important problems associated with pesticide spray technology. The objective of the course was to provide the information and knowledge required to perform effective crop management and promote zero tillage technology in North Africa.

The course focused on a series of relevant issues: the effective application of spray technology, sprayer usage and calibration, and the sustainable and safe use of pesticides. The course, organized by the Project, Conservation Agriculture in North Africa, funded by ACIAR and the Australian government, combined presentations and practical activities.

For more information on ICARDA’s efforts to promote conservation agriculture visit: http://www.icarda.org/conservation-agriculture/teaser

The course brought together experts from various disciplines to exchange information and educate attendees on the proper application of pesticides and other techniques

Iraq: Raising date palm production through sustainable pest management

The efforts of Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture and ICARDA to revitalize Iraq’s date palm sector through sustainable pest management techniques have taken significant strides over recent years. Within the framework of an IFAD-funded project, the application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a practical and environmentally-friendly approach that combines an extensive range of techniques, researchers have successfully decreased pest populations while raising date palm productivity.

Targeting major pest populations in Iraq, the project brought a 90.5% decrease in the density of Stem Borers, a fall of up to 80% in the population of Lesser Date Moths, and a 96.7% efficacy rate against Dubas Bug infestation. Interventions included solar traps, hand collection, and the application of neem, a bio-control agent.

Subsequent yields increased by up to 115% in some implementation areas, and techniques were disseminated through trainings, workshops, and conferences – attended by some 220 national staff. Extension material, written by ICARDA and Ministry of Agriculture staff, have included 22 articles and 5 extension bulletins, addressing new technologies for extension agents and farmers.

National recommendations based on these successes have been subsequently adopted by Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry sprayed an area of 25,000 hectares with neem and initiated a national program targeting stem borers through hand collection and the use of solar traps.

This progress was recently presented at the Project’s final workshop and Steering Committee meeting, held in Amman, Jordan, which convened Iraqi and ICARDA scientists, and representatives from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the initiative’s donor. To ensure the Project’s recommendations are extended and used elsewhere, a concept note was developed, presented, and discussed during the meeting. Endorsed by the steering committee, the concept note will be developed into a full proposal for scaling-out project technologies to date palm farmers in new governorates.

Progress of the ICARDA-managed initiative to disseminate IPM in Iraq were presented at a recent meeting in Amman, Jordan

South-South collaboration strengthens genebank management

In an example of south-south collaboration, ICARDA recently facilitated a bi-national training event in New Delhi during which Indian scientists shared modern genebank management techniques with counterparts from the National Gene Bank of Tunisia.

Hosted by the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources within the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the five-day training program encompassed a wide range of vital expertise: in-situ and ex-situ germplasm conservation, plant genetic resource management, policy issues related to plant genetic resource management, plant quarantine, and plant genetic resource database management.

The twelve attendees from Tunisia’s National Gene Bank were able to explore new ideas and perspectives during on-going discussions, establishing a good rapport with the workshop’s convener, Dr. Ashutosh Sarkar, the Regional Coordinator of ICARDA’s South Asia and China Regional Program.

The workshop also provided an opportunity to reflect on the growing relationship between India’s National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources and the National Gene Bank of Tunisia. Over the coming years, cooperation may grow to include scientist exchanges programs and more practical workshops to build the capacity of Tunisian genebank managers.

Issues covered during the workshop included germplasm conservation, plant genetic resource management, and plant quarantine

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