Location
The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) was established in 1977. It is one of 15 such centers supported by the CGIAR. ICARDA’s founding mandate to promote agricultural development in the dry areas of developing countries remains highly relevant today.
ICARDA works with a tight focus on the problem-solving needs of resource-poor farmers, achieving this through the in-field delivery of its research outputs. Although global food production has increased by 20 per cent in the past decade, food insecurity and poverty remain widespread, while the natural resource base continues to decline.
International research centers such as ICARDA, which have helped drive previous improvements, continue to deliver new technologies to support sustainable growth in agriculture, and crucially, to work with a wide range of partners to accelerate the dissemination of these technologies.
ICARDA’s biggest strength is its staff – 600 highly skilled men and women from 32 countries. Our research and training activities cover crop improvement, water and land management, integrated crop-livestock-rangeland management, and climate change adaptation.
Other interventions include:
- Water harvesting - supplemental irrigation and water-saving irrigation techniques
- Conservation agriculture methods to reduce production costs and improve sustainability
- Diversification of production systems to high-value crops – horticulture, herbal and medicinal plants
- Integrated crop/rangeland/livestock production systems including non-traditional sources of livestock feed
- Empowerment of rural women – support and training for value-added products.
The ICARDA genebank holds over 135,000 accessions from over 110 countries: traditional varieties, improved germplasm, and a unique set of wild crop relatives. These include wheat, barley, oats and other cereals; food legumes such as faba bean, chickpea, lentil and field pea; forage crops, rangeland plants, and wild relatives of each of these species.
ICARDA’s research portfolio is part of a long-term strategic plan covering 2007 to 2016, focused on improving productivity, incomes and livelihoods among resource-poor households.
The strategy combines continuity with change – addressing current problems while expanding the focus to emerging challenges such as climate change and desertification.
We work closely with national agricultural research systems and government ministries. Over the years the Center has built a network of strong partnerships with national, regional and international institutions, universities, non-governmental organizations and ministries in the developing world and in industrialized countries with advanced research institutes.
THE ‘DRY AREAS’
Research and training activities cover the non-tropical dry areas globally, using West Asia, North Africa, Central Asia and the Caucasus as research platforms to develop, test, and scale-out new innovations and policy options.
Dry areas cover 41 per cent of the world’s land area and are home to one-third of the global population. About 16 per cent of this population lives in chronic poverty, particularly in marginal rainfed areas. The dry areas are challenged by rapid population growth, frequent droughts, high climatic variability, land degradation and desertification, and widespread poverty. The complex of relationships between these challenges has created a "Poverty Trap."
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Displaying 241 - 245 of 431Land Degredation and Salinity Management in Nile Delta
Field experiments were carried out during four cropping seasons (summer 2013, winter 2013/14, summer 2014 and winter 2014/15) to evaluate sustainable interventions to combat degradation associated with salt accumulation. Field trials were conducted with various treatments including application of gypsum, organic matter, bio-fertilizers, ammonia injection, and installation of mole drains.
Ground truth_data form
Ground truth data collection farm land use and land cover mapping
Economic of Land Degradation on Central Asia_Newsletter #1, 28 Apr 2015
In this issue: the meeting in Antalya laid the foundation for the implementation of the ELD Initiative in Central Asia. The ELD CA Initiative held a working meeting in Ashgabat. Communication issues have been identified. A working meeting of the group of Tajik specialists. ELD CA paths of cooperation are being determined. A 6-step approach to issues of the Economics of Land Degradation.
Ethiopia Case Study_ Soil Degradation and Sustainable Land Management in the Rainfed Agricultural Areas of Ethiopia: An Assessment of the Economic Implications
Soil erosion and deposition values were estimated using pixel based landscape information and the Unit Stream Power Erosion Deposition (USPED) model, which works with the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) parameters. The USPED model was adapted to Ethiopian conditions based on evidence from the Soil Conservation Research Programme, and calibrated and validated using data from former research stations as well as the Abbay (Blue Nile) Basin. Additionally, some of the USLE parameters were reduced in order to achieve a satisfactory approximation of sediment loss for the Abbay Basin.
ELD Initiative: Practitioner’s Guide_Pathways and Options for Action and Stakeholder Engagement
As the world’s population continues to rise, there is
an ever increasing demand for our land to produce
a diverse range of products such as food, timber,
and fuel. Our growing need for these goods is
leading to higher levels of competition between
different land uses and, as a result, land users. Not
only is the quantity of land available for production
under current technical and economic conditions
limited, but there is also growing evidence that the
quality of our land is degrading (Safriel, U. N. 2007;