The
idea of establishing an international agricultural research center in
the dry areas was conceived in 1972 by a team of visionaries associated
with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the
CGIAR. In that year, a Review Mission was commissioned by the CGIAR
to study the potential magnitude of the threat of food shortages and loss
of natural resources in the dry areas, and its global implications.
Known as the Skilbeck Commission, after its leader, Prof Dunstan Skilbeck,
the team conducted an in-depth study and recommended the establishment
of a major internationally-supported, multidisciplinary research center
in this region. As a result, the Ford Foundation - which was already
operating the Arid Lands Agricultural Development project in the Near
East from Lebanon, with Bob Havener as its Director - and Canada's
International Development Research Centre, IDRC, with Joe Hulse as its
Director for Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Sciences, came forward to
act as the implementing agencies, and the International Center for Agricultural
Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) was born in 1975.
Through the efforts of many individuals, a site for establishing ICARDA's
station in northern Syria was identified in 1976 and, with full blessings
and support from President Hafez Al-Assad, Tel Hadya was developed into
ICARDA's principal station in 1977.
The 948-hectare site, generously provided by the Government of Syria,
was selected because it had land form that represent conditions typical
of much of the dry areas in the region.
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