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
3 July 2003
For more information contact:S.Varma@cgiar.org
Agronomic Research Trials in Iran
During his visit to Iran from 30 May - 6 June, Dr Mustapha Pala of ICARDA's Natural Resource Management Program visited agronomic research projects conducted in partnership with Iran and met with researchers from national Iranian agricultural institutions. The preliminary collaborative plan for 2003/04 developed during the visit envisages a closer collaboration between ICARDA and Iran for the upcoming year.
     Invited by the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture in September of 2002, ICARDA and Iranian scientists and technicians have conducted more than 50 multilocation research activities in long-term crop rotations, supplemental irrigation, water harvesting, soil management, and crop management. Technology transfer through on-farm trials and demonstrations took place on about 55,000 hectares in Gechsaran, Kordestan, Kermanshah and East Azerbaijan provinces with improved management practices conducted together with farmers and extension staff. Significant progress has been made toward the great potential to be achieved by the adoption of more effective soil and crop management practices combined with improved cultivars to increase welfare of the rural communities through sustainable use of land and water resources with input-use efficiency.
     ICARDA staff members were invited to participate in planning meetings to discuss the project achievements, the problems encountered and questions raised by farmers. This information was integrated into the collaborative plan for the upcoming year to assist the projects in achieving their full potential.
     Dr Pala extended special recognition to Dr Habib Ketata for facilitating his work with Iranian farmers in the harsh highlands.
     The Iran Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with ICARDA since 1993, shifted the emphasis from irrigated agriculture to rainfed agriculture, which had remained neglected. The useful experiments conducted at the research stations have been repeated as on-farm trials and later demonstrations with extension units under the Ministry of Agriculture's Agricultural Extension, Education and Research Organization (AEERO).

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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