There is no point in doing agricultural research if the results do not reach, and benefit, the farmer. So, towards the end of April, ICARDA and its Syrian partners held a series of field days to make sure it does just that. The three-day Study Tour in northern Syria was designed to show farmers and extension agents from both sides of the country what each group was doing in collaboration with ICARDA. This criss-cross participation turned out to be an excellent opportunity for exchange of ideas and experience.
More than 50 participants attended the first day, at ICARDA's research station at Tel Hadya, 35 km south of Aleppo. Mr Nerses Nersoyan led a tour of rotation experiments which have been running since 1984/85 and that have been the basis for extending this type of research to other countries. The participants also saw the farm machinery needed if a farmer was interested in growing legumes in those rotations. They saw an Edlebi Company roller to level the land and a Kashishian Company cutterbar to cut the legume crop when mature, both locally manufactured in Aleppo after joint development with ICARDA.
They also met with some of ICARDA's plant breeders and discussed new varieties of forage legumes, durum wheat, chickpeas and lentil that could improve the performance of these crops compared to the traditionally used varieties.
The following day, at El Bab, 60 km northeast of Aleppo, there were some 70 participants. Professor Hisham Zainab, of Aleppo University, spoke of crop rotations, lack of which can cause falling cereals yield. He discussed the disadvantages of monoculture, and demonstrated how it encourages the development of serious pests such as the seed gall nematodes (Anguina spp.)which causes the persistent disease called Abou Alouwei, which affects both barley and wheat crops, and is well known to farmers. The Professor assured them that following the rotations recommended by ICARDA and the Research Directorates would help them eliminate these pests and diseases.
Participants then moved to one of the field trials where vetch was growing to watch an agricultural operation using two cutterbars, one the Kashishian, the other imported from Germany. The aim of the operation was to show the efficiency of the locally-manufactured cutterbar and thus to encourage farmers to buy it and use it in their farm operations. Later there was a discussion on farm machinery and its use.
The Kamishly field day, held at the Hemo Agricultural Research Station 7 km from the city, drew yet more participants; about 85. Mr George Malki and Mr Samir Elias, from the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture, and Mr Faik Bahhady and Dr Scott Christiansen, from ICARDA, gave a detailed review of crop rotation trials, focusing on the effect of the legume, be it pasture (medic), forage (vetch) or feed (lentil) legumes, and their effect on grain and straw production of the cereal. In this context, Mr Bahhady explained that although the fallow/wheat crop rotation would double wheat yield, net benefits are much better from a vetch/wheat rotation due to the returns from feeding livestock with the vetch. Although fallow is rarely used now, any rotation was superior to continuous wheat. The speakers also addressed topics such as how the legumes improved the fertility and structure of the soil making it easier to cultivate.
Dr Christiansen commented on the positive results achieved by ICARDA in cooperation with the Hemo Station. "These positive results were ICARDA's main motivation for its plan to implement similar trials in Lebanon and Algeria," he said. Three researchers from the American University of Beirut (AUB) joined the field days to take a close look at the experimental trials implemented in Kamishly, to learn from the previous experience, and to take part in the dialogue with farmers.
In the field plots it was easy to see very evident treatment differences. This drew much interest from farmers, who started shooting questions at the scientists and who received answers from other farmers! For example, the farmers in Kamishly doubted whether the rotation trials would be useful in drier zones. But other farmers invited them to visit their fields in El Bab, where collaborative trials using barley/vetch rotations have been showing positive results under 250 mm annual precipitation for more than 10 years.
Towards the end of the field day, a discussion session was led by Mr Ahmed Al-Kadri, Head of Hemo Research Center, and Mr Hussein Bakkour, Assistant Director of Agriculture in Al-Hassakeh Province during which many questions were raised by farmers on crop rotations, availability of machinery, the need for upright legume varieties (which resist lodging and remain erect for mechanical harvesting), and the urgent need to stimulate the livestock sector.
One ICARDA staff member said that she had learned more about crop rotations and livestock systems in three days than she had in nearly 20 years of editing and producing publications on similar subjects. "Seeing is believing," she said. "If the farmers found it even half as illuminating as I did, then we have really had some impact over the last few days."
"We are very pleased by farmers' enthusiasm in their talks about the crop rotations", said Dr Christiansen. "What is particularly satisfying is that the leaders of the farmer's union saying that they would like to organize additional field days at Hemo station to show more farmers the performance of the wheat following each of the various crops. With results like these, that can be seen with the naked eye, it makes it simple to convince farmers."