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ICARDA's Research
Portfolio
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ICARDA's Research Portfolio |
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ICARDA developed
a new strategy and initiated a project-based system in 1998, outlined
in this chapter, of conducting and administering its research and training
activities. |
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| The eco-geographic mandate of ICARDA's research covers the countries of Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA), as well as other developing countries with subtropical and temperate dry areas. The term 'dry areas,' in the context of ICARDA's research program, refers to those areas where the length of the crop growing period is less than 180 days because of the limitation of rainfall. These dry areas comprise five ecoregions, namely, the cool subtropics (with winter rainfall); the warm, seasonally dry subtropics (with summer rainfall); the highland subtropics; the seasonally dry tropics; and dry temperate areas. Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Chile, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Syria, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates are located in the cool subtropics; Botswana, Namibia, Nepal, northern Mexico, north-western India and Pakistan are located in the warm, seasonally dry subtropics; Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey are located in the highland subtropics; Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Oman, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen are in the seasonally dry tropics; and Armenia, Azarbaijan, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, northwestern China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are located in the temperate dry areas. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Agricultural
systems in the dry areas are dynamic. Global linking of national economies
and urban market development are creating new, more intensive, and more
diverse demands on agricultural producers. The demographic pressure on
the land combined with the need to produce more food from a limited resource
base is forcing producers to follow practices that maximize short-term
returns at the expense of long-term sustainability. Environmental resource
degradation and human poverty are most pronounced in low-potential agricultural
environments, particularly those with low and uncertain rainfall, in mountainous
areas, and in the rangelands. Rural to urban, as well as international
migration, is widespread, particularly in the Mediterranean region, and
threatens social, political, and economic stability. To deal with the challenges of poverty, food insecurity, and resource degradation, ICARDA's research agenda is built around five general themes: 1. Crop Germplasm Enhancement 2. Production Systems Management 3. Natural Resource Management 4. Socioeconomics and Policy 5. Institutional Strengthening Theme 1. Crop Germplasm Enhancement This theme includes
six projects, each developed around a particular crop or group of crops.
The overall goal of the projects is to steadily increase yield and stability
through genetic improvement and water-use efficiency, with special emphasis
on less favored environments and low external-input systems. The strategy
is to produce cultivars with stable year-to-year yield adapted to the
environments in which they will be grown. The projects are multidisciplinary,
with research targeted to specific dry-area farming systems. As such,
they integrate genetic improvement with production systems, resource
management, and socioeconomic and policy considerations. Theme 2. Production Systems Management Production systems
management draws together all the components of research into a farming
systems perspective. This approach enables site-specific results to
be blended into recommendations that can be applied to broader target
areas. Long-term experiments on the productivity of farming systems,
particularly those integrating crops and livestock, and the management
of soil and water resources, are geared to optimize cropping sequences
and the development of appropriate ways to intensify production in the
dry areas. Optimizing soil water use is a particularly important area
in which ICARDA is a co-convener with the International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), of the Optimizing Soil
Water Use (OSWU) Program, within a "CGIAR Systemwide Soil Water
and Nutrient Management (SWNM) Consortium." Theme 3. Natural Resource Management ICARDA's research
on natural resource management aims to promote efficient, integrated,
and sustainable use of resources for improved productivity and alleviation
of poverty. The Center's research plan responds to the vision expressed
at the Lucerne meeting in Switzerland 9-10 February 1995 and to recommendations
in TAC's 1995 report, "Priorities and Strategies for Soil and Water
Aspects of Natural Resource Management Research in the CGIAR,"and
the Maurice Strong report on "Systemwide Review, 1999." While
water and its availability are the key issues in the dry areas and are
accorded the highest priority, soil, agricultural biodiversity, and
land use are all closely linked. ICARDA maintains a strong Genetic Resources
Unit and participates in the "System-wide Genetic Resource Program." Theme 4. Socioeconomics and Policy Socioeconomic and
policy research provides gender, market, cultural and end-user perspectives
that can help in promoting the adoption of new technologies and enhance
the impact and benefits of ICARDA's research. Particular emphasis is
placed on participatory research methods for problem identification,
technology evaluation and selection that complement the formal analytical
methods already in use. The strategy is to build upon the knowledge,
perspectives, and innovative capacities of farmers and local communities
in finding solutions to production and resource-management problems. Theme 5. Institutional Strengthening ICARDA has a strong
program of technical assistance to National Agricultural Research Systems'
(NARS) seed-production efforts. While supporting this essential activity,
the Center emphasizes the needs of the informal seed sector to stimulate
improvements that are not adequately met by existing services. These
include partnerships with government agencies, farming communities and
NGOs, and opening up the possibility of new initiatives by the private
sector. Training Training is an integral part of ICARDA's research projects. The Center's research partnerships with NARS are strengthened implicitly by colleague-to-colleague training. Increasingly, the Center is out-sourcing its training activities to make the best use of the expertise that is becoming more readily available in NARS. Training focuses on improved quality and effectiveness, and on achieving multiplier effects through training the NARS trainers. ICARDA encourages greater participation of women scientists from NARS in its training programs. |
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Key Features of ICARDA's Research Stations ICARDA
operates two experimental station sites in Syria, including the main
research station at Tel Hadya, near Aleppo, and two sites in Lebanon.
These sites represent a variety of agroclimatic conditions, typical
of those found in the CWANA region. |
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 IICARDA's main research farm and headquarters (inset) at Tel Hadya, near Aleppo in Syria. |
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| Theme 1 Project 1.1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||