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I C A R D A N e w s 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: www.icarda.cgiar.org |
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For
more information contact:
Dr Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
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9 June 2005
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IFAD
Assistant-President Visits ICARDA
A delegation
of senior officials from the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) visited ICARDA on 27 May to update themselves with the progress
of the IFAD-funded ICARDA projects and discuss future plans. Led by
Mr James Carruthers, IFAD Assistant-President, Program Management
Department, the delegation included Ms Mona Bishay, Director, Near
East and North Africa Division; Mr Abdelhamid Abdouli, Syria Country
Program Manager; Ms Mylene Kherallah, Regional Economist; Ms Annina
Lubbock, Technical Advisor on Gender; and Ms Rana AlSaidi, Head of
the Arabic Translation Unit.
Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, Director General, received the delegation at ICARDA. As part of the welcome to the delegation, a briefing session was organized by the DG along with the senior management of the Center. In his briefing, Prof. Dr El-Beltagy thanked IFAD for having been a strong partner of ICARDA since its inception. He presented an overview of the work of the Center, noting that ICARDA works to improve livelihoods in the dry areas of the world where millions of people face the challenges of poverty and hunger. ICARDA carries out its research in close collaboration with national programs and international research institutions, he said. The DG also outlined ICARDA's activities in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Sudan, aimed at rebuilding agriculture in those countries. "The Center is making best use of new tools of science including remote sensing, biotechnology/genetic engineering, simulation modeling, artificial intelligence/computer expert systems," he said. He then presented ICARDA’s new research portfolio and introduced the directors of the six new mega-projects, who made brief presentations. Dr Theib Oweis, Director of Mega-Project 1, on water and drought, said that the major constraint to agricultural production in CWANA is water. The main objective of Mega-Project 1 is to improve water productivity to enable farmers grow more food with less water. The project covers five key thematic areas: water resource assessment, water productivity improvement, drought management, policies and institutions, and building capacities of national programs.
Dr Sanjaya Rajaram, Director of Mega-Project 2, on integrated gene management, said that ICARDA’s research is focusing on producing cereal and legume varieties with high yield and drought tolerance and resistance to pests and diseases.
Dr Colin Piggin, Director of Mega-Project 4, on diversification, said that the project aims to provide better opportunities for sustainability to poor farmers in rural areas. Mega-Project 4 has six themes: diversified crops and cropping systems, improved market opportunities for crop and livestock products, integrated crop/range-livestock systems, integrated pest management options, post-harvest handling/processing packages, and knowledge/information to support diversification. Prof. Dr Kamel Shideed, Director of Mega-Project 5, on poverty and livelihood analysis, said that the objective of the mega-project is to conduct more effective and better targeted research that contributes to development of sustainable livelihoods of the rural poor in dry areas. The areas of focus include: analysis of the determinants of poverty and rural livelihood strategies, including gender; assessments of the impact of agricultural research on poverty reduction; valuation of natural resources used by rural communities and impact assessment of natural resource management research, and analysis of the returns to investments in the dry areas (including institutions and policy options). ICARDA’s work on knowledge management was presented by Dr Ahmed Sidahmed, Director of Mega-Project 6. Major elements of this mega-project include the development and implementation of a systematic approach to strengthen and use the knowledge generated by ICARDA and its partners for the benefit of end-users. After the presentations, Mr James Carruthers thanked the ICARDA DG and staff for welcoming him and his delegation to the Center. He reaffirmed IFAD’s commitment to continued collaboration with ICARDA. He noted that since IFAD itself is grappling with the issue of knowledge management, it could be an additional area of collaboration with ICARDA in the future. The IFAD delegation, led by Prof. Dr El-Beltagy, then visited research facilities of ICARDA. The facilities visited included: the computer center, biotechnology and entomology laboratories, sheep unit, the genebank, and the GIS unit. At each facility the delegation held discussions with ICARDA scientists on their research activities. |
About
ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.cgiar.org)
serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil,
and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management
of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants
(sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In
the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible
for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage
legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of
the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations supporting15 international research centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment.