ICARDA News

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS
P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105; E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
7 November 2002
For more information contact:S.Varma@cgiar.org
Pakistan Agriculture Minister Receives Director General
Pakistan's Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock, H.E. Mr Khair Muhammad Junejo, received ICARDA Director General Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy on 8 October 2002 to discuss the Center's role in the region and in Pakistan in particular.
    Dr Adel M. Aboul Naga, Representative, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and Dr Abdul Majid, National Professional Officer, ICARDA Pakistan, accompanied the Director General to the meeting, which was also attended by the Secretary, Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, and Agriculture Development Commissioner from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock; the Chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC); and the Director General of the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department, Islamabad.
    The Agriculture Minister supported increased collaboration with ICARDA and expressed agreement on a memorandum of understanding between ICARDA and Pakistan, submitted by the Center through Dr Kausar Abdulla Malik,
On his way back from Afghanistan last month, ICARDA Director General Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy (fourth from left) stopped in Pakistan for two days of meetings and field visits. Among those he met with were, from left, Brig. (ret.) M. Shafqat-Ullah Cheema, Director General, Agency for Barani Areas Development; Dr Rashid Bajwa, Chief Executive Officer, National Rural Support Programme; Dr Kausar A. Malik, Member (Bio-sciences), Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission; Dr Adel M. Aboul Naga (fifth from left), FAO Representative; Dr Badruddin Soomro, Chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council; Dr N.I. Hashmi, Director General, National Agricultural Research Centre; and Dr Abdul Majid, National Professional Officer, ICARDA, Pakistan.
Member (Bio-sciences), Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.
    On 9 October, Prof. Dr El-Beltagy paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Science and Technology, H.E. Dr Atta-ur Rahman, in Islamabad and discussed areas of potential cooperation.
    From there, the Director General visited the Barani Agricultural Research Institute and the Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute, Chakwal. He was welcomed by Brig. (R) M. Shafqat-Ullah Cheema, Director General, Agency for Barani Areas Development, and directors of various research institutes collaborating in the Barani Village Development Project. ICARDA's National Professional Officer, Dr Majid, presented the key achievements of the ICARDA Implementation Unit, and directors and scientists briefed Dr El-Beltagy on the achievements of the Applied Research Component of the project.
    Before departing for Islamabad, the Director General visited a plantation of cactus imported from Tunisia for evaluation under local conditions under the Barani Project.
    In Islamabad, Prof. Dr El-Beltagy called on Dr Badruddin Soomro, Chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council. The two discussed matters of mutual interest, including the MOU between ICARDA and Pakistan. Some minor changes were suggested and agreed upon. The Chairman also took the opportunity to congratulate the Center on the marking of its 25th Anniversary in May 2002.
Yemeni Agriculture Minister Applauds APRP
The Arabian Peninsula Regional Program (APRP) is working in the right direction by focusing on water-use efficiency and rangeland management, said H.E. Mr Ahmed Salem Al Jabaly, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Yemen, in opening the Program's 3rd Regional Steering Committee Meeting in Sana'a on 3 October 2002.
    In his speech, H.E. the Minister focused on water shortages in Yemen and the need to refrain from exporting banana, a crop that demands a lot of water. He also cited the irrational use of chemicals as another serious problem facing the country.
    "The efforts by APRP in introducing protected agriculture [growing vegetable crops in plastic greenhouses and tunnels] and in the area of improving grazing lands by utilizing the local
From right, H.E. Ahmed Salem Al Jabaly, Minister of Agriculture, Yemen; Mr Salem A. Al-Shanfa, Kuwait Counselor in Yemen; Dr William Erskine, Assistant Director General for Research, ICARDA; and Mohammad Al Mazroe, Director General, Agricultural Research Department, Saudi Arabia, after the opening ceremony of the ICARDA–APRP Regional Steering Committee Meeting in Sana'a, Yemen.
indigenous species are in the right direction of addressing both problems," he said.
    "Growing of qat [chewed as a stimulant] is one of the biggest problems, because of its high water requirements and because of the excessive use of chemicals by the growers. More efforts are needed to reduce the construction cost of the greenhouses and to provide the farmer with crops having high water-use efficiency," H.E. Mr Al Jabaly said.
    Dr William Erskine, ICARDA's Assistant Director General for Research, welcomed the participants on behalf of Director General Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, and thanked the Program's donors—Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and OPEC Fund for International Development—for their continuous support of the program.
    "The program is at a crossroads, now that it is approaching the end of its current phase in June 2003. This meeting, therefore, is extremely important for developing new initiatives that further the region's goals and are worthy of financing," said Dr Erskine, who applauded the moves taken by the Gulf Cooperation Council to become a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), of which ICARDA is a member center.
Participants in the 3rd Regional Steering Committee Meeting of the Arabian Peninsula Regional Program, 3 October 2002.
    Dr Ismail Muharram, Chairman of the Board of the Agricultural Research and Extension Authority, expressed his deep appreciation on behalf of the Authority for the long and fruitful collaboration with ICARDA. He praised the efforts of the ICARDA–Arabian Peninsula Program in Yemen. Dr Muharram welcomed members of the Steering Committee and wished them a successful meeting.
    The meeting, chaired by Dr Erskine, was attended by 18 participants from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, along with ICARDA–APRP specialists.

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.
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