Profile - West Asia ICARDA’s West Asia Regional Program encompasses the Fertile Crescent, where agriculture began some 10,000 years ago. It is still home to crop varieties of invaluable global importance, but the region is seriously threatened by the rapid loss of biodiversity. Water shortages, land degradation, and desertification are also leading to increased poverty, especially in rural areas where rainfed agriculture predominates. Overgrazed rangelands are unable to support the increasing number of livestock, and irrigated production is declining due to depletion of groundwater and increasing salinity.

ICARDA’s West Asia Regional Program works with local government programs on agricultural research and development in Cyprus, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, and lowland Turkey. This Program plays a key role in joint bilateral and regional initiatives. Drought and water shortages over the last decade have prompted communities and decision makers in West Asia to explore the potential of the marginal dry areas for more sustainable production. ICARDA’s innovative participatory integrated watershed management approach to developing options for managing natural resources in the dry marginal areas actively involves local communities and institutions. This approach is provin g very effective in addressing the complex problems of poor production and desertification in West Asia.
 

Recent achievements

Improving crop varieties

Farmers now participate directly in selecting improved crop varieties

Each year, ICARDA provides research institutions in the region with plant material for their breeding programs on barley, wheat, lentil, chickpea, faba bean, vetch, grasspea, and medic. Many improved varieties originating from ICARDA germplasm have been released by national programs in these countries over the years. ICARDA also introduced ‘participatory plant breeding’ where scientists and farmers work in partnership. Following successes achieved with barley, participatory plant breeding is now being institutionalized in Jordan and extended to wheat and pulses.
 

Reversing land degradation

Saltbush (Atriplex) planted along contour ridges provide valuable dry season fodder

Water harvesting and planting fodder shrubs in the Badia rangelands of Jordan and Syria have proved successful in reversing rangeland degradation. Micro-catchments and contour ridges are easily made and they greatly increase fodder production and control erosion. Local communities have been fully involved and have begun to use these techniques themselves, suggesting high potential for widespread adoption. 

  
Improving water use efficiency

ICARDA’s collaborative research on water and land management has identified options for improving the use of scarce water resources. Integrated and complementary approaches include water harvesting techniques, land tillage, supplemental irrigation, and crop residue management.
 

Research progress

Integrated pest management (IPM) techniques developed by an IFAD funded project have halved pest damage of date palm orchards in central and southern Iraq. Six ‘field schools’ were established and 36 farmers trained in IPM techniques in date palm and wheat. Other

Project summaries - Sustainable technology improves farmers’   livelihoods - Integrated management raises     greenhouse  productivity - Seed networks help farmers to boost   crop yields - Agricultural technologies increases   yields of rainfed crops - Treated wastewater use in agriculture      eases  pressure on water resources - Strategies help farmers cope with   climate change

ongoing projects in the region include the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Middle East Water and Livelihoods Initiative, the Water Benchmarks Project funded by Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), and a project on community-based management of gray-water, supported by the Coca Cola foundation.

In Jordan, 13 pilot wastewater treatment units were installed in villages in the Madaba Governorate, and households were trained to operate and maintain them. Fifty-four farmers worked with scientists in a participatory breeding program on barley.

Implementation of two new programs began in 2010: a Netherlands-funded program to enhance food security and livelihoods in Palestine, and a project to conserve genetic resources in Jordan, funded by IDRC-Canada.
 

Developing policy and institutional options

Researching policy and institutional options is essential to improve uptake and impact of results. For example, community models have been developed to assess the effects of different policy reforms on farmers, including an innovative decision-making tool that evaluates the effects of technical, policy, and institutional options.
 

Counting the benefits

The adoption and impacts of improved crop and livestock technologies introduced in the region were assessed by on-farm surveys. Improved barley varieties were grown by half of the farmers surveyed in Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan, and a third of those in Syria, and over half of the total barley growing area was planted to the new varieties in Jordan and Iraq, and one fifth in Syria. The feed block technology was taken up by most sheep owners in Iraq and one fifth of farmers in Jordan. In Syria, other successes included growing vetch in barley rotations and early weaning of lambs, both adopted by almost 30% of farmers.
  

Strengthening capacity

Training and community partnership are essential in ensuring impacts

Human resources are the cornerstone for success in rangeland development, so it is essential to continue to build individual and institutional capacity. Appropriate training and education is undertaken, especially in planning and evaluation, and strengthening ties with the national programs and policy makers is also a top priority. In the past thirty years, 4600 people from the region have received training, including 2679 from Syria, 726 from Iraq, 580 from Jordan, 501 from Lebanon, and the first 76 from Palestine.
 
UNDP/GEF funded project
 

Future directions

The work continues, and with more investment, more benefits can be achieved in the region to further reduce poverty. Based on assessments of previous impacts, benefits could be immediately achieved in on-farm water use, conservation agriculture, rangelands and livestock, biodiversity conservation, adaptation to climate change, integrated pest management, crop diversification, poverty mapping, and capacity building. West Asia witnessed the birth of agriculture, but now must witness a rebirth if the region is to meet the challenges ahead. 
 

Partners

The national agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) in the countries is the main partner, in addition to other national institutions, Ministries, NGOs and private sector. The main partners are:
National Center for Agriculture research and Extension (NCARE) in Jordan
State Board for Agricultural Research (SBAR) in Iraq
General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR) in Syria
Lebanon Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) in Lebanon
National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) in Palestine
Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) in Cyprus
 

For more information, contact:

Dr Nasri Haddad, Regional Coordinator
West Asia Regional Program
ICARDA, PO Box 950764, Amman 11195, Jordan

Tel.	+962 6 5525750; +962 6 5525750
E-mail:	n.haddad@cgiar.org icarda-jordan@cgiar.org