Sustainable Land Management - Research

CACILM Project SLM-R Launched in Central Asia

During the Project Inception Workshop organized on 2-4 July, 2007 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the technical program of the project was outlined, research sites were selected, the national coordinators of the project were assigned, and budgetary allocations per country/site and research theme were agreed. As a follow-up to the workshop, technical programs for each of the identified sites have been finalized, except for Tajikistan. In addition, agreements for the implementation of the SLM-R project have been signed with all the national partners as per the Grant Agreement # TA 6357 signed between ICARDA and ADB. The first installments of funds have also been released to the national coordinators to immediately initiate the works. Dr. Raj Gupta, Manager, SLM-R project, has already circulated a vision document to serve as Research Prospectus for sustainable land management for inputs of the national partners and fine-tuning.

Procurement process of need-based farm implements and research equipment for monitoring salinity, soil moisture, NDVI (biomass), and laser assisted precision land leveling for improvement of water use efficiency is already underway. The research sites are being characterized in GIS framework for inclusion in the Research Prospectus. An independent NGO “Agri-business and Entrepreneurship” has been sub-contracted to conduct the socioeconomic and policy advocacy component of the SLM-R Project under ICARDA's technical guidance.

Need-based trainings have been identified for the scientists, technicians and the farmers, which will be conducted as soon as the equipment/implements reach the research sites.