Crop Science Society, along with A-6, annually sponsors the participation of one of the CGIAR centers. This year ICARDA was the featured center.
    ICARDA was sponsor/co-sponsor of the following symposia:

Combating Drought in Dryland Agriculture 

This special symposium featured Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy as guest speaker, and a panel of experts in the area of drought.
    In his well illustrated presentation, Prof. El-Beltagy highlighted the challenges of dealing with the problem of drought and water scarcity in Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) and other regions. He presented examples of successes achieved by ICARDA, working closely with its national, regional and international partners; the work in progress; and a vision for the future. He highlighted the role of partnerships, new tools of science– particularly biotechnology, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and expert systems–in meeting the challenges. He emphasized that success hinged on better management and conservation of the finite land and water resources through improved cropping systems and production technologies that help produce more and at the same time protect the environment. Following Prof. El-Beltagy's presentation, brief statements were made by each panelist.
    Dr Bobbie Stewart, Dryland Agricultural Institute, Canyon, Texas, and formerly of the world renowned Bushland Station, Texas, stressed the intractable nature of drought and technologies needed to combat it. Dr Stewart, considered the "eminence grise" of dryland agriculture, has visited ICARDA several times and has represented USAID in relations with ICARDA. Dr Rattan Lal, Distinguished Professor, Ohio State University, and formerly soil scientist at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), highlighted the implications of carbon in soil and agricultural ecosystems in relation to drought. Dr Bill Payne, Texas A&M University, and former agronomist at ICRISAT Niamey Center, pointed to the challenges of crop adaptation to drought.
    ICARDA scientists contributed to the panel. Dr Salvatore Ceccarelli stressed the complexity of drought and the challenges of breeding for drought tolerance. Dr Eddy de Pauw gave a climatologist's perspective on drought and indicated strategies to deal with it.
    Prof. El-Beltagy's presentation and views of panelists stimulated considerable discussions, questions and comments from the large audience. This special event was a prelude to the following day's symposium on dryland agriculture.

Challenges and Strategies of Dryland Agriculture in the New Millennium

This timely symposium–given the global concerns about hunger in dry areas of the developing world– attracted a large audience. The morning session was chaired by Dr Srinivas Rao, USDA-ARS El-Reno, Oklahoma, while the afternoon session was chaired by Prof. David Sammons, Associate Dean of International Agriculture at Purdue University.
    The morning session featured keynote presentations by Dr A. Dedrick, Deputy Director, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, who outlined USDA's role in research and development in relation to dryland agriculture in the U.S.; Prof. El-Beltagy, who outlined ICARDA's collaborative relations and strategies for dryland research in its mandate region; Dr William Dar, Director General, ICRISAT (re- presented by Dr D.V. Reddy) dealt with dryland issues in the semi-arid tropics; Dr Bobbie Stewart, Texas, gave an historical overview of dryland agricultural research in the U.S. and stressed the need for increased funding for global dryland research. Later, presentations dealt with breeding for drought resistance, drought early-warning systems, challenges of dryland agriculture in Pakistan, and sustainable cereal-legume rotations in Lebanon.
    In an equally stimulating afternoon session following Dr Jean Steiners's keynote address on agronomic responses to climate forecasting, other speakers (see list on pages 4 and 5) addressed topics such as agronomic practices in relation to water-use efficiency, drought tolerance in chickpea and lentils, forage legumes, molecular markers for drought stress in durum wheat, quantitative trait loci in barley, cropping encroachment in rangeland, the Mashreq-Maghreb community-based project, and dryland agricultural policies and technologies in Ethiopia.
This symposium spearheaded by ICARDA and USDA, and sponsored by the Crop Science Society of America and the International Agronomy Division, was a major event at the Tri-Society meetings. The papers presented at the meetings, in addition to some invited papers, will be published as a special ASA peer-reviewed volume.

Agricultural Development in Central Asia

Two eminent scientists with intimate knowledge of, and connections with the Central Asia region chaired this full-day symposium. The morning session was chaired by Prof. Paul Vlek, Director, Institute for Development Studies (ZEF), Bonn, Germany, while Professor Ahmet Mermut, University of Saskatoon, Canada, chaired the afternoon session.
    The opening presentation, given by Dr Raj Paroda, Coordinator of ICARDA's Regional Program for Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC), and Head,CGIAR Facilitation Unit, Tashkent, and co-authored by Prof. El-Beltagy, and Dr A. Satybaldin, Kazakstan, outlined broad issues for research and development in the region. Subsequently, presentations by ICARDA, CIMMYT, and Central Asian scientists dealt with issues such as demographic and social change, agroecological characterization, economics of livestock production, carbon dioxide flux and soil carbon sequestration, water resources and management, tillage systems, germplasm enhancement, forage and range resources, pasture and food legumes, and biodiversity. Closing remarks were made by Prof. El-Beltagy and by Dr John Ryan. The proceedings of this symposium will be jointly published by ICARDA and ZEF.

Conservation Agriculture for Small Farmers in Developing Countries

This symposium–of great relevance to CGIAR mandate areas–was co-organized by CIMMYT (Dr Pat Wall) and ICARDA (Drs Mustafa Pala and John Ryan). Major features of this half-day symposium were an overview of current thinking and issues on conservation agriculture by Dr Wall, an overview of conservation tillage in the WANA region by Dr Pala, and a view from Central Asia by Dr Mekhlis Suleimenov, from CAC, Tashkent.
    Other A-6 Symposia that involved ICARDA presentations included “Nutrients and Soil Management” and “International Biotechnology: Middle East and Latin America.”

ICARDA's (www.icarda.org) mission is to improve the welfare of people and alleviate poverty through research and training in dry areas of the developing world by increasing production, productivity, and nutritional quality of food, while preserving and enhancing the natural resource base. ICARDA is a Future Harvest Center.