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
Website: http://www.icarda.cgiar.org

ICARDA Lentil Breeder Dr Ashutosh Sarker recently attended the annual review and planning meeting of the Pulses Research Center of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), where he reported on BARI–ICARDA collaboration and co-chaired a planning session.
     About 100 researchers, extensionists, NGO workers, and farmers took part in the meeting,

which was inaugurated by BARI Director General Dr Md. Shahidul Islam. Dr M.M. Rahman, Director (Research), BARI, and Dr M. Azizur Rahman, Director, PRC, also spoke on the occasion.
     Research and technology transfer were discussed thoroughly and workplans for 2003-04 were developed. Collaboration between ICARDA and BARI was initiated in the early 1980s and has led to the release of valuable improved lines. Collaboration has also focused on training and research into seed priming, relay cropping, mixed and intercropping, and disease management.
     Lentil is the preferred pulse in Bangladesh and contributes greatly to the protein requirements of the rural poor. It is usually eaten as dhal, a soup, with rice. The Pulses Research Center has released four lentil varieties, two of which emanated from ICARDA-supplied material. Of these, Barimasur-4 is resistant to rust and stemphylium blight, the most devastating diseases of lentil in Bangladesh. According to reports from extensionists, seed production officials, farmers, and NGO workers, Barimasur-4 has been adopted by most farmers due to its higher and stable yields.
     Dr Abu Bakr, Manager of the Lentil, Blackgram and Mungbean Development Pilot Project, presented a comprehensive report on technology adoption. He reported that improved varieties and production technologies have contributed to a yield increase of 28,000 t per year, valued at US$12.6 million, based on a farm-gate price of US$450/t. Impact analysis has shown that farm families use the extra income earned from lentil cultivation to fund their children's education, pay for healthcare, invest in agriculture, purchase food stuffs, build brick houses, and buy clothes and other goods. The government of Bangladesh launched the project in 1996 with the goal of disseminating new technologies to farmers.
     On the final day of the meeting, Bangladesh's Minister of Agriculture, Mr Alamgir Kabir, distributed prizes to leading farmers and extension agents. BARI's Director General took the opportunity to brief the Honorable Minister on ICARDA's role in lentil improvement in the country. They lauded the BARI–ICARDA partnership for its benefits to farmers and consumers.

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.