The world's dry areas - which cover 41% of the earth's land area, and are home to a quarter of global population
- will be facing the brunt of Climate Change. This will lead to unprecedented challenges to food security particularly with the food and economic crises on top of evermore erratic weather patterns.
"But these challenges can be overcome if policy makers, researchers and development agencies work together, in genuine partnership" stressed Dr Mahmoud Solh, Director General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
Dr Solh was speaking at ICARDA's Presentation Day, held at the International Center in Aleppo, Syria. Food prices of many staples have doubled or tripled in the past two years. Even though prices have eased slightly in 2009, food security is still a highly critical problem for poor families in most developing countries.
The majority of the world's poor live in dry areas. Over 360 million people in these regions live on less than $1 per day, most of which is spent on food. In collaboration with partners in national programs, research centers like ICARDA are playing a key role in ensuring reliable harvests and affordable food supplies. "Our focus is not just research," Dr Solh explained. "It is research for development." This is an important difference; and this practical approach to research has generated enormous returns in terms of food production, conservation of natural resources, and rural welfare in dry areas worldwide.
Improved water management through applying carefully monitored small amounts of water to crops at intervals have enabled farmers to double water productivity, while using less water overall than had they applied full irrigation. The "smaller-is-better" approach, known as "supplemental irrigation" produced twice as much food per liter of water, as the full treatment. Traditional farming techniques (some millennia old!) such as rainwater harvesting have also been refined, using new scientific methods, to arrest soil erosion, rehabilitate degraded rangelands and feed its inhabitants.
About 900 improved crop varieties, developed over the past 30 years of ICARDA's existence in collaboration with their national counterparts, have been released worldwide to farmers. These varieties give high and stable yields, and have resistance to such environmental stresses as drought, heat, cold, salinity), while also carrying defences against. diseases and insect pests. The extra food produced using these multiple resistant varieties is worth over US$ 850 million per year.
ICARDA works closely with national programs to enhance food security. Examples include Syria, which through an enabling policy environment, supplemental irrigation and varieties released by the national program, is now self-sufficient in wheat. It was an importer of wheat as recently as in the 1980's. Iran and Uzbekistan are other examples. They are now self sufficient in wheat (except for last year in Iran because of severe drought).
Similarly in Africa, improved crop varieties developed in collaboration between national researchers and ICARDA,, and via the national extension services have been widely adopted by the farmers. For example, in Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen, yields have increased by 25-30%, farm incomes have increased substantially. In Bangladesh, 65% of the country's lentil area is planted to new stable, high-yielding, disease resistant varieties developed through the collaboration between Bangladesh's scientists and ICARDA. In India, a new disease-resistant lentil variety is being adopted in areas where farmers had all but abandoned cultivation of the crop, so devastating was the disease onslaught. The new variety also enables farmers to grow an extra crop in between rice crops, and make net food gains - with potential adoption over extensive areas.
ICARDA's research also covers water and land management, rangelands, livestock (sheep and goats, which are the key species in dry areas), cropping systems, and economic and policy analysis. New fodder crops and alternative livestock feeds are being explored. For example agro-industrial by-products like pulp and molasses are being put to good use in so-called feed blocks that are easy to make, store, carry and provide to livestock, This has allowed livestock owners to improve flock productivity while cutting down production costs.
The Center and its partners use a three-pronged approach to combat Climate Change: adaptation, mitigation and resilience. For example, improved varieties with greater tolerance to drought, extreme temperatures and salinity will enable farmers to reap harvest even under highly stressful conditions. More diverse farming systems with new synergistic crop combinations and management of the soils and water will be more resilient to external shocks. Farmers are being trained and local communities supported in adapting to these new production methods. Linkages to markers where better prices can be gained for farm products will help rural communities cope with climate-related fluctuations. Supplemental irrigation and water harvesting techniques will help address growing water scarcity. Policy makers are working to design long-term coping strategies. "Food security in dry areas is a challenging goal, particularly in the context of climate change," said Dr Solh. "But we believe it can be achieved, if we combine good science with good partnerships."
About ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.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 wheat, 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.
Media contact: ICARDA-Media@cgiar.org