2.1 Introduction
2.2 Farm Resource Management Program
2.3 Cereal Program
2.4 Legume Program
2.5 Pasture, Forage and Livestock Program
2.6 Socioeconomic Research
2.7 Overall Assessment
Research in ICARDA is organized on a program basis to address four separate research foci, namely Farm Resource Management (FRMP), Cereals (CP), Legumes (LP) and Pasture, Forage and Livestock (PFLP). Whereas there is a degree of inter-Program collaboration, each of the four Programs has its own research goals, operates as a separate department and is under the direction of a Program Leader. This organizational structure (shown in Figure 1.2) has been in place in ICARDA since its commencement, although some changes have been made in the research domains and the program titles of FRMP and PFLP. Additionally, a small Genetic Resources Unit was established in 1983, which has now been expanded to fulfill its assigned regional mandate.
Organizational matters per se and the management of research at ICARDA are discussed in chapter 4. Overall assessment of the four major Programs constitutes the main thrust of this chapter.
ICARDA's direct expenditure on each of the four major Program areas over the past five years is shown in Table 2.1. Cereal research has consistently received the highest funding, in contrast to the pasture, forage and livestock work, which has received 20 to 21% of the research allocation. This varies somewhat from the Center's projected expenditure in the 1990-94 MTP (p. 125), which indicated that livestock research would command 26% of the research budget by 1994, and expenditure on food legumes would drop to 15%. The MTP projections were based on the recommendations of the 1988 EPR that ICARDA should expand its work on livestock production.
Taking an overall view of livestock-related research in the Center, allowance must be made for the research contributions of LP and FRMP to the development of the livestock feed base. Close examination of these programs suggests that somewhere between 5 to 15% of their research activities could justifiably be "charged" to PFLP. The higher figure relates to the Legume Program, to which the PFLP legume breeder was transferred in 1990.
Table 2.1 Actual expenditures by research program (nominal thousand US$)
|
|
1988 |
1990 |
1992 |
||||
|
$ |
% |
$ |
% |
$ |
% |
||
|
Research Program |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FRMP |
2,049 |
23 |
2,015 |
22 |
2,070 |
24 |
|
CP |
2,568 |
28 |
2,729 |
30 |
2,700 |
31 |
|
|
LP |
2,579 |
29 |
2,523 |
28 |
2,017 |
24 |
|
|
PFLP |
1,868 |
21 |
1,898 |
21 |
1,763 |
21 |
|
|
Total |
9,064 |
|
9,165 |
|
8,550 |
|
|
Source: ICARDA Annual Reports.
2.2.1 Agroecological Characterization
2.2.2 Natural Resource Conservation and Management
2.2.3 Analysis of Farming Systems Improvement
This Program exists to assist nations and their NARSs in the development of more productive and sustainable crop and livestock production systems that both optimize the use of, and conserve, farm resources. There is a growing awareness of the threat to fragile ecosystems of resource degradation due to changes in the production systems (intensification and resource mismanagement). The Program includes monitoring of the long-term impact of technologies on physical and socioeconomic environments! as well as work on soil conservation and the impact of alternative technologies on soil-water dynamics and water-use efficiency. Much of the research has been conducted in several diverse agroecological zones in Syria. Because resource-management research tends to be rafter location-specific, a major concern has been identification of key resource-management areas and the generation of research methods appropriate for the range of environments represented in WANA.
The objectives of this thrust have been focused on the description and characterization of the agroecological environments of the WANA region and their variability in space and time, to facilitate the setting of research priorities and the transfer of technology. ICARDA's Agroecological Characterization (AEC) Group has been involved in a project intended to develop and use techniques to describe and quantify the variability of the agroecological environment. This requires the use of computer simulation models in conjunction with field testing to validate responses. In 1988 the EPR recommended that "ICARDA review the staff resources devoted to the agroecological characterization project to ensure that sufficient priority is accorded within the program to bring the project to a timely completion and facilitate the transfer of technologies to national programs, as appropriate." In response to the 1988 EPR, ICARDA has initiated steps to decentralize part of its research program to strategic locations in the region. The Program also appointed a P-level agroclimatologist (since tragically deceased) and has taken initiatives to compile crop yield statistics and weather data, and to match the two.
There has been a continuation of the work linking the spatial weather generator to a wheat model. The project has been most visible in Morocco where there was good awareness of the potential importance of AEC. National scientists collated the climatic data in the country, systematically collected soil data and created a digital contour map of central Morocco. In contrast, in Turkey, activities lack continuity and output is limited. The AEC team expect to finalize the present project in Morocco within one year.
The team working on AEC attempted to distribute ten automated Agro-Met-Stations. This attempt has not yet been successful as data have been received from only one station of the ten. Preliminary data from the project suggest the wheat model does have value in predicting crop-climate interactions. In addition, the distribution of major food crops is now better documented and understood, as are the major constraints to production and the risks faced by farmers. ICARDA believes these efforts have increased the awareness in NARSs of the value of agroecological characterization as a tool for increasing resource-use efficiency through better definition of recommendation domains and breeding objectives.
Through its work on agroecological characterization, ICARDA can serve a catalytic role by fostering interdisciplinary research within broader ecological frameworks, which should prove to be cost-effective both in terms of human and financial resource allocation. Closer and better integrated linkages of the kind proposed in Box 2.1 and Appendix 7 will, over the long term, have a potentially great impact as a consequence of the continuity of purpose for the involved personnel, and pursuit of a commonality of research and technology-transfer objectives. In this fashion, ICARDA's mandate could perhaps be more effectively realized by the provision of communication links, networking matrices for training and information channels, and impact assessment at the end-user level, from which the ultimate evaluation of ICARDA's mission will be judged.
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Box 2.1 ICARDA and agroecology: an outline proposed for sub-ecoregional engagement The overwhelming problem of the area within ICARDA's geographic mandate is that of adapting and developing sustainable agricultural systems where the water supply is for the most part acutely and chronically deficient. It is possible to recognize a broadly defined "ecoregion" within which agroecological zones with special characteristics can be reasonably differentiated. It is increasingly recognized that the nature of the interaction between IARCs and NARSs should be readdressed. ICARDA is no exception. Much of the impact of the Center hitherto has derived from the commodity programs and the uptake of their improved products. Farming systems research results have proved, in general, to be a "less exportable entity" from the Center. The diversity of the agroecological zones and fanning systems within the WANA region emphasizes the urgent need to organize research activities over a wider range of agroecological situations in a more decentralized manner. With the present, and anticipated future, financial constraints to which ICARDA is and will be subjected, decentralization with enhanced collaboration with selected NARSs should represent a more cost-effective strategy than existing arrangements. The central point of this "econarsian" idea is that collaboration between national, regional and international institutions in the adoption, testing and demonstration of improved crops, livestock and farming systems would be enhanced by the redeployment of Regional Coordinators to agreed sites within the mandated area, chosen for their NARS competence and their capacity to represent a defined agroecological zone. The results of such research would be transferable to other areas that share a similar agroecological definition within the WANA region. It is suggested that ICARDA, perhaps in collaboration with TAC, the NARSs and other interested parties, establish working arrangements (a) to identify representative key agroecological zones within the WANA region and (b) to identify representative centers of activity in the NARSs that could thus form the hubs of suet a decentralized research arrangement. |
Research on soil, water and nutrient resources in a farming systems perspective using diagnostic surveys and socioeconomic monitoring of applicability of technologies is a major focus of the FRMP. The broad goal in this thrust is to assist NARSs in the development of sustainable farming systems that optimize efficiency of use of soil and water. This involves developing an understanding of physical, chemical, biological and environmental principles that control the productivity and sustainability of cropping systems. From such understanding it is intended to develop strategies for their more efficient management. A further objective is to provide data for the development of methods for extrapolation of research findings in space and time.
The 1990-94 MTP research agenda features several major themes, including (a) tillage and stubble management, (b) improved fertilizer use, (c) water management to supplement rainfall, (d) fallow replacement and (e) on-farm and environmental variability. The general aims and goals that had been held for the period through to 1994, and achievements to 1993 in each of the themes are elaborated in the following sections.
Tillage and Stubble Management (and Soil Conservation)
A general aim is the development of tillage and stubble management practices that are cost-effective and fuel-efficient, support sustainable production and reduce hazards of water and wind erosion. Specific goals are to achieve (a) a critical assessment of tillage systems currently used by farmers, (b) an understanding of the potential impact of improved tillage and stubble management on soil conditions and the economics of different farming systems on contrasting soil types, (c) a heightened regional awareness of alternative and more efficient tillage systems and (d) the establishment of research on improved soil conservation methods and on monitoring soil losses.
The Program has collected data from a long-term trial on tillage practices in Syria. So far these show that there is no advantage of deep tillage in swelling clay soils, as was expected, nonetheless results suggest that costs of labor associated with tillage could be reduced. The results are in line with those of trials in Morocco, which are now being repeated in Jordan. It is debatable whether, at this time, a heightened regional awareness of more efficient tillage systems has been achieved. Meanwhile, techniques to measure soil losses caused by wind erosion have been adapted and tested in Syria and Jordan. Studies are also being conducted on the use and cost-effectiveness of hedges for wind erosion control.
Improved Fertilizer-Use Efficiency and Fertility Management
The work here involves quantifying the effects of fertilizer management, soil conditions, crop sequence and variable water supply on the economics of fertilizer use; developing methods for analyzing trial data to provide information on biophysical and economic risk of fertilizer use; and conducting more strategic research on soil-crop nutrient dynamics to develop nutrient sub-models for growth simulation models. The existing medium-term ambitions are (a) to assemble information on the impact on fertilizer responses of agroecological constraints, and refine methods for the development of better targeted recommendations, (b) to develop better methods for the analysis of agronomic trial data for the estimation of risk, and (c) to develop and calibrate nutrient submodels for use in the prediction of stochastic responses to fertilizers and the refinement of nitrogen fertilizer recommendations in response to seasonal conditions.
The Program's Regional Soil Fertility Network has been expanded in recent years and has served as a catalyst for soil fertility research and communication between WANA research workers. In on-farm fertilizer research, the Program has noted the difficulty of producing reliable predictive models for fertilizer response, even over a small region of Syria. It is working on nitrogen-cycling in legume rotations and crop animal interactions using 15N in long-term trials in collaboration with local institutes. In addition, it is conducting work on residual effects of added phosphorus, and on boron in barley production in collaboration with CP.
Water Management
The objective in this research is to develop management strategies for scarce water resources to supplement rainfall. Work in this field has been concentrated on supplemental irrigation research in Syria and water harvesting in Pakistan. Management strategies for improved efficiency of use of scarce water resources will be documented and made available for use generally within the region.
Ways of improving the use of water have been developed. The improved farm-level supplemental irrigation techniques are being transferred to farmers. Water harvesting appears to be more difficult to extend in Pakistan than at first anticipated. Studies of wheat and barley trials suggest there are some technical problems to be overcome and economic factors hinder the adoption of the water-harvesting techniques used by AZRI. A preliminary cooperative survey in Egypt on the potential for developing harvesting systems in the northeast coastal area has yet to be followed-up.
Fallow Replacement with Pastures and Forage Legumes
The Program is endeavoring to develop methods to transfer improved barley-livestock systems, which include forage legumes, and to monitor their impact and long-term sustainability. The general research goals through 1994 were to make an economic and agroecological evaluation of fallow replacement systems in various environments of the region and to describe factors affecting the potential of and constraints to continuous cereal production, its economics and sustainability. By 1994, a start will also have been made on assessing the potential and management requirements of oilseed crop production in the region.
An economic and agroecological evaluation is being conducted of fallow replacement systems in various environments of the region. Factors affecting the potential and constraints of continuous cereal production, its economics and sustainability have indeed been described. Long-term wheat-legume combinations, wheat culture with supplemental irrigation, and barley cultivar and management alternatives in on-farm low-rainfall rotation trials and their analysis have increased the understanding of the water balance between crops in a rotation; improved root growth by one crop significantly depletes the resources for the next.
On-Farm Trials and Environmental Variability
Generation of more refined methods that will allow greater predictability of the effects of variable environments on crop production is the central thrust of this work. Emphasis is on transferring technology to NARSs. Improved production packages for durum wheat, chickpea and lentil and methods for testing their impact at the farm level through on-farm trials are being documented. Data from on-farm trials are being used in the development of response and recommendation domains. This activity is closely linked to work on adoption and impact.
Assessment
Farming systems research and concern for natural resource management (NRM) are not new concepts at ICARDA, which has a maintained a program devoted to systems research for its ecoregion since its conception. Gains from NRM research at ICARDA can perhaps be used as an indicator of the complexity of managing systems research, the time-span of investment in this area and the likely return to investment.
FRMP has developed methods to conduct NRM research in the WANA region. It has produced preliminary conclusions about the effect of wheat rotations on water availability to subsequent crops, the relevance of deep plowing, the site-specificity of fertilizer response, and the general importance of socioeconomic relative to technical problems in the management of natural resources. Fertilizer trials have recently been terminated. Work on water management suggests there is much potential for innovative integrated research to improve the availability and efficient use of water in the region. Within this context, the role of ICARDA in research on irrigated agriculture is discussed in Box 2.2.
FRMP has been interacting with other Programs and it is evident that numerous interactive projects exist. The FRMP report each year features many inter-Program research reports written jointly with members of other Programs. However, Program resources are spread over a wide range of themes.
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Box 2.2 Research on irrigation at ICARDA1 1 Supplementary question 2, section I, Appendix 1, p. 112 of this Report. ICARDA is an ecoregional center entrusted with "...promoting improved and more productive agriculture in developing countries having dry subtropical or temperate climate through research and training activities conducted primarily in countries of the Near East, North Africa and the Mediterranean region in order to raise the standard of living and promote the social, economic and nutritional well-being of the peoples of developing countries." The mandate does not exclude irrigated agriculture, but ICARDA from the beginning chose to exclude this research dimension. More recently, the Board and two previous EPRs insisted the Center should not work in this area. ICARDA's role in water management was limited to supplemental irrigation and water harvesting in rainfed agriculture. The move of the CGIAR System further into natural resource management and into ecoregional approaches to problem-solving, obliges the Panel to reassess the current validity of earlier EPR interpretations of ICARDA's mandate. The previous EPR based its conclusion on its perception of the need for a clear focus on winter-rainfall and dryland farming systems, where generally restricted availability and frequent deficiency of water are dominating factors of production. Inevitably, the work of the Center is becoming more complex due to the increased emphasis on NRM research in ICARDA's research -programs and on ecoregionality in its modus operandi. In addition, the use of irrigation in WANA is rapidly increasing and this trend as well as other implications are recognized by TAC, which has suggested that "...where appropriate, irrigation ecosystems could constitute specific research domains of ecoregional programs." In its 1994-98 MTP, ICARDA has again proposed (a) to initiate some research in fully irrigated agriculture on sustainability aspects of water use, in order to conserve the resource base and (b) to work on the soil-water-plant components of dealing with growing problems of salinity. If ICARDA restricts its work in fully irrigated agroecosystems to aspects of efficiency of water use as it relates to the soil-water-plant component, its work should complement already-existing NRM efforts and should not be incompatible with the work of IIMI, which concentrates on economic and engineering-efficiency aspects of irrigation. Importantly, ICARDA would provide backstopping for NARSs in the region where there is at present a serious need as well as strong interest in this research area. |
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Recommendation 2.1 ICARDA, as an ecoregional center for the dry sub-tropics, should be given encouragement to work in restricted research domains in irrigated agriculture for which it has expertise. However, the work should be financed with special-project funds (with a component to cover headquarters'-related overhead) and carried out by special-project-supported staff, so as not to detract from ICARDA's primary research emphases. |
Individual, broad subjects are often represented by a single researcher, who alone can hardly be expected to cover the breadth and depth of the subject and is unable to provide optimal inter-Program support. In addition, and partly because of this, interaction and cohesion within the Program is often unclear. Strong leadership of this program is essential. The Center as a whole would benefit from more formalized mechanisms of inter-Program project coordination, as is noted in section 4.4.8 and is taken up in the suggestions in section 4.4.9.
The Panel encourages the Program to find a way to increase its capacity to conduct a cohesive program of NRM research. This could be achieved by concentrating effort on the most essential themes, or by obtaining special funding to increase the capacity of the Program. With such increased resources, the additional scientists would probably be stationed in "outreach" to tackle NRM problems of particular agroecological zones.
The Program faces an especially difficult problem in establishing and maintaining a critical level of interaction with NARSs. In its country visits, the Panel obtained a mixed impression of the success of FRMP's NRM outreach activities. The presence and activities of the Program were strongly evident in the Mashreq and Quetta projects where ICARDA has based staff members with a background in NRM. In North Africa and Egypt, there was little evidence of NRM activities with the exception of the involvement by individuals in the Regional Soil Fertility Network, coordinated principally from Syria.
The Panel urges ICARDA to continue to seek effective methods for developing and building the interest and the capacity of NARSs in aspects of NRM related to their needs. In the opinion of the Panel, ICARDA should concentrate its efforts on selected problems in locations where there is the potential for good collaborative work and perhaps also special funding. In line with the broad concept referred to in Box 2.1 and Appendix 7, NARSs with specific expertise could be better used to create a "critical mass" of scientists working on certain problem areas.
The third broad set of activities of FRMP sweeps together a diverse set of activities not clearly accommodated within the preceding two sections and in which the unifying theme of analysis is the taking of a socioeconomic perspective, whereby improvement is judged in anthropocentric terms. Most but by no means all of the economic and sociological work in the Center takes place within or from FRMP.
The Panel, however, sees merit in reviewing all the socioeconomic work of the Center on a broad social-science thematic basis and, accordingly, has placed this in a separate section as if it were a formal Program as such. Thus discussion and recommendations concerning this aspect of the work of FRMP (and PFLP) are to be found in section 2.6.
2.3.1 Background
2.3.2 Achievements During the Past Five Years
2.3.3 Assessment
2.3.4 Overview
Cereals provide the basis of crop production systems in the WANA region and have equally profound implications for livestock production in many areas. Because of the dietary significance of bread, wheat production is a primary consideration and most countries in the WANA region are forced to address the problem of increasing importation of wheat to correct a growing deficit. In Syria, for example, the average production of wheat in the past decade has been 1.73 Mt while average consumption has been 2.28 Mt, although in the past two seasons, supply and demand have been in balance at the expense of severe depletion of the aquifers through supplementary irrigation. The two main types grown in the region are durum and bread wheat, which are used in pasta, bread and other forms of consumption. Their relative importance varies - durum wheat predominates in North Africa and Syria (80% durum, 20% bread), while bread wheat is more important in Turkey and the eastern countries of WANA.
The region accommodates some 80% of the area of durum wheat grown in less-developed countries although, on a world scale, durum accounts for less than 10% of the total wheat crop. In terms of ecoregional characterization, barley is of immense significance in the drier areas of the WANA region since it is the only temperate cereal that is capable of producing a crop at the extreme lower rainfall limits for cultivation (below 250 mm and down to as little as 150 mm average annual rainfall). Bread wheat is most often found in the more favored, higher rainfall areas (above 400 mm) and those where supplementary irrigation can be practiced, while durum wheat occupies areas with intermediate rainfall regimes (300-450 mm) where it is not generally irrigated. However, this situation is changing and durum wheat is expanding into irrigated areas.
Following the 1983 QQR, cereals work at CIMMYT and ICARDA was reorganized with the global mandate for barley being assigned to ICARDA, which operates a program jointly with CIMMYT for Latin America. Reciprocally, the global mandate for bread wheat and durum wheat resides with CIMMYT and the programs in both these crops in the WANA region are a joint CIMMYT/ICARDA responsibility.
The major activity of the Program is germplasm enhancement and breeding and this is the subject of sections that immediately follow. Other aspects are taken up briefly before framing the recommendations of section 2.3.4.
There are five principal areas of plant breeding activity at ICARDA, namely, (a) spring* barley, (b) winter and facultative barley for high elevations, (c) durum wheat, (d) facultative bread wheat and (e) spring' bread wheat. ('Spring denotes physiological type rather than time of planting.) In addition, there is supporting work in pathology and entomology, agronomy, physiology and biotechnology.
At the time of this ER, the breeder currently responsible for winter/facultative barley was awaiting the transfer of his activities to the bilateral program to be based at Maragheh (Tabriz), Iran. He is supported temporarily by a visiting scientist from Krasnodar, Ukraine, who will not transfer there. The facultative bread-wheat breeder divides his activities equally between ICARDA headquarters at Tel Hadya and the CIMMYT outreach program based at Ankara, where he collaborates with the CIMMYT winter wheat breeder.
(a) Some 72 lines of barley and durum and bread wheat have been released by NARSs of 32 countries, predominately in the WANA region.
(b) The impact of new cereal varieties has been assessed with most precision for the host country, Syria. It has been calculated that the value of the ICARDA wheat varieties in the series Cham-1 through Cham-4 inclusive, amounted to US$31 million in the 1990-91 season in terms of increased production.
(c) Staff of the Cereal Program have contributed some 130 publications in various journals, symposia, newsletters, etc. Some of these are significant contributions to understanding of breeding for variable environments characterized by biotic and abiotic stress.
(d) A vigorous training program has been maintained with approximately 100 persons per year working within the group. There has been a general move to more specific individual training and 7 PhD and 9 MSc students obtained degrees.
Germplasm enhancement. The cost effectiveness of CP is amply demonstrated by the impact study quoted above, which indicates the benefits from only one country in the region in one year. The impact of durum and bread wheat breeding as expressed by varietal uptake has been greater than that for barley on an overall view up to the present. This is partly because the uptake of new varieties is proportionally greater in the better watered areas. The socioeconomic significance of barley in the drier areas is nevertheless of great importance, despite the fact that these areas contribute substantially less in absolute quantities to total grain production. Studies within Syria have indicated that the yield gap between what is achievable under experimental conditions and what is typically achieved on-farms, ranged from 3.2 t/ha under irrigated conditions, through 1.1 t/ha in high rainfall areas, to 0.8 t/ha in low rainfall areas. Yields and areas sown and harvested vary greatly from year to year in extremely dry areas but, over 12 recorded seasons, farmers' yields averaged about 0.55 t/ha, whereas on-farm trials of the Syrian National Program produced average yields of 1.2 t/ha over 9 seasons. Even these crude indices suggest that considerable gains could be achieved in the dry areas with the transfer of improved technology, the most important component of which is time of planting. However, a lack of capital investment in machinery may limit such exploitation.
It is the avowed policy of the CGIAR System and of ICARDA that there should be a progressive devolution of responsibility for the breeding of finished lines from the center to the NARSs. From the earliest days of ICARDA, segregating material has been provided to the NARSs in addition to more homozygous material. To set a target date for completion of this particular form of devolution is problematic because of the wide range in capability and resources of individual NARSs. Discussions at ICARDA with the Panel revealed that the attitudes of individual staff members to the policy of progressive transfer of breeding responsibility were themselves highly heterogeneous, with the extremes of the range for and against devolution represented, respectively, by the spring wheat and spring barley programs. There would seem to be no inherent advantage in slavish adherence to a doctrine of transfer of responsibility. What matters is surely the improvement of the agricultural economy of countries in the WANA region. Where more advanced lines continue to find ready acceptance by the NARSs for completion and release it would be logical to maintain their supply.
Staff in the Program would also argue that there has been a general move toward adaptation of the material to more specific environments, rather than a quest for general adaptation, over the years of ICARDA's development. The most developed and best documented expression of this is found in the spring barley program.
Since the 1988 EPR, there has been a perceptible shift in targeting the material in this Program for the lower rainfall areas where barley is grown, particularly within the host country. The greater use of landraces as genepools with their long-established tolerance of abiotic stresses has been increasingly advocated in the program and their exploitation has gathered pace. It would be a matter of concern if the procedure of making and releasing pure-line selections from the landraces were to be enshrined as the ultimate breeding policy for this environment, because the buffering effect of heterogeneity in variable seasons would be lost, even though advantage is demonstrable in some seasons and/or locations. However, the breeders at ICARDA see this as no more than an interim procedure for the extremely dry zones to be followed by the release, possibly involving hybridization with Hordeum spontaneum, of resynthesized mixtures of elite selections from landraces and ultimately the release of material derived by hybridization of landraces and exotic germplasm. Some difficulty may be anticipated in the release of deliberately mixed lines unless the NARSs are prepared not to apply normal standards of varietal uniformity prior to approval for release. It must be emphasized that the majority of this Program is still concerned with the exploitation of suitable germplasm from the world genepool in the crossing program. These nurseries are also being increasingly targeted with greater precision for specific environments within the WANA region.
The spring wheat material developed at ICARDA has some cold tolerance and indeed seems to be moving in the same general direction as the facultative wheat program, although there is some attempt to select in different directions from common crosses. The separation of responsibilities between these two programs is not entirely clear. The CIMMYT winter wheat breeder and the CIMMYT/ICARDA facultative wheat breeder have attempted to identify their respective responsibilities for targeted areas from the base at Ankara, although it is debatable whether wheat breeding for the Anatolian plateau requires this physiological distinction. There is also some overlap between facultative and winter types at this end of the spectrum. Operational efficiency is achieved by using common nurseries and the split role of the facultative wheat breeder contributes usefully to the building of bridges between the CIMMYT and ICARDA programs. Syrian quarantine restrictions sometimes impede the flow of breeding material between Ankara and Tel Hadya.
Spring wheat varieties (Cham-2 (1987), Cham-4 (1987) and Cham-6 (1991) have been particularly well taken up in Syria and in Algeria. The latest addition to the series, GOMAM is a candidate for release - it has some increased yield potential with improved resistance to leaf and stripe rust.
The CIMMYT/ICARDA program for durum wheat has over the past decade progressively shifted its content to material generated and selected in the WANA region. Material derived from the CIMMYT/ICARDA program accounts for some 60% of the durum grown in the drier areas in Syria. The most important varieties are Cham-1, Cham-3, and, most recently, Lahn, which is grown on some 100 thousand ha, as estimated from seed production, without yet having been officially released. The variety Om Rabi-3, which shows better tolerance to cold and drought, is awaiting release for the lower rainfall zone of durum production. There are extensive on-farm trials, and lines have been taken up to good effect in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Tunisia and Turkey. There seems to be some need for a clearer definition of the respective responsibilities of the durum breeders in Mexico and Syria.
The Highland Regional Program is reported in section 3.3.1.2 but aspects of it relating to germplasm enhancement can appropriately be discussed here. There appears to have been little impact yet in terms of the release of varieties specifically adapted for higher elevations. Superior performance of lines of durum and facultative/winter barley in regional nurseries in Turkey and Morocco has been more recently reported, however. In part, the relative lack of progress has been attributed to administrative problems associated with the Quetta project, which was chosen as the principal vehicle for the identification and exploitation of material for the higher elevation areas. The absence of experienced plant breeding staff at Quetta and the apparently poor links with the provincial NARS severely limited the prospects of success. It also seems that the decision to locate the base for the high-elevation breeding work at Tel Hadya was inappropriate. Although early selection was effected in appropriate nurseries at high altitude, the correspondence of individual line selection there to bulked plots at Tel Hadya could well have resulted in genetic drift. Responsibility for wheat improvement has now been devolved and the barley work is benefiting from a greater concentration of effort. Work now involves detailed characterization of vernalization and photoperiod responses and the exploitation of an extensive gene pool, including landraces, is producing some promising material for a diversity of highland environments.
The possibility of relocating the visiting scientist in support of this program to Ankara is believed to be under consideration. On the available evidence, this would seem to be preferable to retaining a base program at Tel Hadya. The question of which site would be responsible for the distribution of nurseries would need to be resolved. It is imperative that the breeding implementation errors of the Quetta project are not repeated in the Iranian bilateral project. It will also be necessary to establish links between the work in Iran and the other principal sites of activity in Turkey and Morocco. Pressure should be applied to secure an early start to the work at Maragheh if the momentum of the program is not to be lost.
Work on triticale at ICARDA is limited to trials of CIMMYT material, following a recommendation of the 1988 EPR, and this seems appropriate.
Cereal physiology. A new leader of this program has recently assumed his duties. He sees the role of his small group as assisting the breeders to define physiological objectives/selection criteria. Although, as noted below in this section, much of the former agronomic work is winding down, a major emphasis will continue on drought tolerance and also on seeking a better understanding of tolerance at extreme temperatures. A thermal tolerance laboratory has been established to screen material.
The group is also seen to have an important role in training staff "in-house" and attempting to relate their activities to their counterparts in the NARSs, although with few exceptions these are not yet easy to identify.
Cereal biotechnology. The person appointed to the solitary scientist position is administratively located in the LP but shares a laboratory with his disciplinary colleague who is responsible for work in LP, but is located within the CP. The arrangement is illogical but does not appear to be operationally disruptive.
Work on cereals has been supported by a grant of US$5 million from UNDP and the French Government. At the behest of the latter sponsor, there has been a relatively heavy investment in tissue culture/embryo rescue facilities, particularly for working with doubled haploids. This now appears to be little used because most of the staff prefer to use SSD techniques and a recent survey conducted to assess the opinion of scientific staff on the priorities for biotechnology work did not produce a high score for work on haploids. Doubled haploids produced earlier are currently under investigation in the spring wheat program.
Some RFLP fingerprinting is undertaken using a limited number of commercially available probes, using non-radioactive techniques. RAPD techniques are also being investigated. Marker techniques are under investigation for assisting in selection of complex characters such as drought tolerance, disease resistance and QTLs. Much emphasis is placed on collaboration with advanced institutions. Meanwhile, at headquarters, since local staff have thus far been untrained for such work, there is a need for experienced post-doctorals to work in the laboratory.
Agronomy and plant protection. In contrast to the situation a decade ago, the work on cereals agronomy within CP has been reduced as the work has moved more "upstream" into cereal physiology. Such agronomic work as is continued concentrates on adaptation to the harsh environments of the WANA region and results are now, as a matter of policy, presented in the FRMP report.
Work on barley has been the major component of agronomic/physiological work in CP in a program regarded as completed and reported. It has been concerned with adaptation to Mediterranean environments, including the effect of rainfall and temperature on grain yield, the effect of phenology on grain yield in high and low environments and an assessment of the implications of the results for breeding programs in stress environments. Studies have also involved C-13 discrimination as a selection criterion in dry environments. Work on barley is assuming a new direction by investigating the physiology of promising crosses using Hordeum spontaneum. In durum wheat, glaucous lines have been demonstrated to have an advantage under drought stress conditions in experiments with isogenic lines. The move into more strategic physiological research is seen as entirely consistent with the development of ICARDA as an "upstream" research center.
The germplasm enhancement programs in cereals at ICARDA are currently supported by a wheat pathologist, a barley pathologist and an entomologist. The wheat pathology is heavily committed to close support of the breeding work by screening for disease resistance - a service that it also supplies to the NARS of the host country. The barley pathology also has a component of screening work but tends to do more investigative work. Both programs justify their contribution to the development of IPM systems by their dedication to disease control through deployment of resistant genes.
A major theme addressed by barley pathology is the evaluation of the effects of agricultural intensification on barley diseases and the development of appropriate plant protection technologies. A proportion of the work on barley includes investigation of resistance in landraces, partly in collaboration with advanced research institutes in Europe. This is supportive of some of the newer components of the work in barley germplasm enhancement. More recently, attention in barley has turned to the investigation of root diseases, motivated partly by the Cereal Program Leader's belief that many soil-related problems, including root diseases, are commonly attributed to drought effects.
Wheat pathology since 1988 has concentrated almost exclusively on the evaluation of resistance genes and on studies of yield loss due to specific diseases. International nurseries assume a big role in the conduct of this program, as they do for the barley work. It is hoped that the information flow will assist in the identification of durable resistance. Host-pathogen studies have recently been extended to the pathogenicity of Septoria tritici blotch and common bunt (Tilletia foetida) on Aegilops spp. from which promising sources of resistance have been identified.
In the entomological work, resistance to Hessian fly of wheat is regarded as being of key significance, especially in North Africa. Good progress is being made in the identification of resistant material and surveying for Russian wheat aphid in collaboration with NARSs and scientists of third-party institutes. Resistance has been transferred from bread wheat into durum and a new program in collaboration with the NARSs has been established to transfer a higher level of resistance from Aegilops species.
The Panel finds the Program to be under effective and respected leadership. Work on germplasm enhancement is generally productive and realizing a perceptible impact on varietal development and agricultural production in the WANA region. The general move toward releasing material with more specific adaptation through more precisely targeted nurseries is commended. This move will be assisted by more detailed specifications of breeding objectives and selection criteria resulting from close support work in physiology, biotechnology and plant pathology/entomology. Breeding for more specific adaptation is likely to result in more extended activities and is therefore likely to prove increasingly challenging in times of acute budgetary constraint. The Panel identified the following points for consideration.
(a) ICARDA should attempt, in conjunction with CIMMYT, to refine the target definitions for the bread wheat breeders operating in the WANA region, especially in relation to the overlap of spring and facultative wheats.(b) ICARDA and CIMMYT should also jointly review the breeding objectives of the CIMMYT and CIMMYT/ICARDA durum programs to achieve an improved definition of responsibilities.
(c) ICARDA should review whether its current scale of activity in cereal biotechnology is unacceptably below the "critical mass" required to retain the services of capable international staff. If it decides to maintain its efforts in this area, priority should be assigned to the recruitment of appropriately prepared post-doctorals.
(d) ICARDA should consider and decide the optimal site for the distribution of international nurseries for high elevation areas following the transfer of the senior breeder to Iran.
(e) ICARDA should also press for the early start-up of the breeding work in Iran, if necessary in advance of the completion of facilities, to avoid loss of momentum in the program.
(f) ICARDA should also formulate a mechanism for linking the plant-breeding activity for high-elevation areas in the bilateral program to its related activities and responsibilities elsewhere in the WANA region.
(g) The Panel notes that the direct link between germplasm enhancement and the agronomic evaluation of its products that formerly existed within the CP has now been broken. In order to exploit fully the potential of new varieties released through the NARSs, the Panel urges ICARDA to ensure that inter-Program collaboration between CP and FRMP achieves this objective in support of the NARSs.
(h) The Panel further suggests that ICARDA should make a thorough review of facilities and support in Turkey to evaluate the probable effectiveness of the plant pathology input to the Highland Program.
Recommendation 2.2
The proposed move of the wheat pathologist to Ankara will further weaken the capacity for close support work in cereal pathology at Tel Hadya. ICARDA should, as an absolute minimum, fill the position of wheat pathologist at headquarters by a post-doctoral appointee.
2.4.1 Background
2.4.2 Achievements During the Past Five Years
2.4.3 Assessment
2.4.4 Overview
National legume research programs were non-existent in most countries of the region when ICARDA was founded. Over the 15 years of the Center's existence, this situation has been significantly remedied through training, visits and other forms of support, all of which have contributed to the increased capacity of the NARSs in the WANA region to undertake applied and adaptive research.
Legumes are important in the WANA region. For all except two WANA countries, they contribute between 4% and 12% of dietary protein, occupy 13% of land occupied by cereals (Oram and Belaid 1990) and they also provide residues for livestock. Demand has grown by 38% between 1986 and 1988. In addition, food-legume imports cost WANA countries, except Turkey, $230 million per annum between 1980 and 1987. Recent surveys show there is a sharp rise in legume consumption in Algeria, Morocco and Turkey, and increases in ICARDA's mandated legumes consumption are also expected in China, India, Pakistan and Tunisia. Lentils are cultivated in agricultural zones with 250-400 mm rainfall, chickpea between 300-500 mm and faba bean between 400-600 mm rainfall per annum. Most of the legumes in ICARDA's mandate are highly efficient nitrogen fixers. (Heichel 1987) and they can also profoundly improve the soil properties through altering the microbial activity, nutrient availability and root growth, which in turn can affect soil aggregation and soil water-aeration regimes (Tisdall and Oades 1982). As such they are, and in the future will probably increasingly be, important components of the sustainability of both livestock and cereal production in the region. As WANA is the center of diversity and cultivation of all legumes in ICARDA's mandate as well as of their pests and diseases, the sustainable improvement of productivity of these crops poses greater difficulties than that posed by introduced crops in other regions.
Following the devolution of the work on germplasm enhancement of faba bean to the NARS in Morocco, the program now comprises work on (a) Kabuli chickpea, (b) lentils, (c) dry peas and (d) forage legumes. The last-mentioned component results from the implementation of another recommendation of the 1988 EPR, whereby work on germplasm enhancement of forage legumes was transferred from the PFLP. The general objectives of the program are (a) to increase yield potential, (b) to narrow the gap between farm and potential yield, (c) to improve sustainability of yield, (d) to mount a defence against erosion of yields by pests and pathogens and (e) to sustain cereal production in farming systems.
(a) The program has implemented the directive to devolve the breeding program on faba beans to a designated NARS. This issue is discussed separately in Box 2.3.
(b) The superiority of winter over spring sowing of chickpeas in low-altitude areas of the WANA region has been demonstrated and the technology is being extended by various NARSs.
(c) More than 30 cultivars of chickpeas have been released for winter sowing in 13 countries in western Asia and southern Europe, based on material from ICARDA and with resistance to Ascochyta blight and cold.
(d) Some 28 cultivars have been released for traditional (spring-sown) cropping systems.
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Box 2.3 Faba bean research devolution TAC decided in 1986 that ICARDA should discontinue working on faba bean.1 The recommendation was endorsed by the Second EPR, which slated "...the Panel urges ICARDA to Identify another international organization or donor agency which would be prepared to lake over the program in its entirely and continue it from a country in the region..." (p. 56). ICARDA pointed out in the 1990-94 MTP that the option of finding such a center was not realistic and requested help from TAC. With no guidance, ICARDA took the initiative to transfer its faba bean work to a national program. ICARDA decided not to transfer the work to the strong Faba Bean Program in Egypt, but rather to where faba bean was grown under rainfed conditions. However, in Morocco the Legume Program was weak. At the time ICARDA believed a number of donors were likely to support the project (1990-94 MTP, p. 129-30). ICARDA requested and was approved funding until mid-1991, giving it three years to transfer the Program and terminate its faba bean research. 1 Supplementary question 3, section 1, Appendix I, p. 112 of this Report. The Panel believes the process of phasing-out faba bean research was not a case of successful devolution. It might have been if (a) the concerned NARS was capable of managing and enhancing faba bean germplasm, and assuming regional responsibilities, (b) the site chosen had the infrastructure to enable safe management of germplasm, in a region known for its variable rainfall distribution, and (c) if regional collaboration was assured. ICARDA's Management expected to build-up the weak legume learn of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in Morocco in three years. In 1989 it transferred two faba bean scientists and equipment to Douyet station to initiate a breeding and pathology program and to train Moroccan scientists assigned to the commodity. There were no national scientists based at Douyet station. By 1990, a local masters-level breeder and agronomist arrived; an "identified" pathologist never did. Over this period, the INRA scientists received intensive training from ICARDA staff. By the end of 1991, both ICARDA faba bean staff had left, but ICARDA retained a legume scientist at Douyet who was knowledgeable about the Program. By August 1992, after supporting the Faba Bean Program a year longer than planned, ICARDA terminated the funds for faba bean research. At this time external funding was promised, but not yet available. Meanwhile, few national funds were supporting the INRA faba bean research, and the national faba bean team was small and inexperienced. The Panel finds that INRA did not allocate enough resources to Douyet to facilitate a successful transfer of the Program from ICARDA. Although Douyet station is well placed in the faba bean growing region, it is isolated from the main research stations in Morocco. For this reason, INRA found it difficult to attract staff. The station lacks infrastructure to adequately maintain a faba bean collection and segregating populations, and to manage materials in limes of drought. There are no irrigation facilities. In the past year apparently 25-40% of segregating populations were lost. The collection and most germplasm were re-instated through intervention by the ICARDA team. This year there was another drought. In order to maintain germplasm for the region, irrigation back-up facilities should have been regarded as an essential criterion for site selection. The GTZ regional coordinator arrived in Morocco in September 1992. Although it is still early, there are indications that the passing of regional coordination from ICARDA to GTZ will not progress easily. Communications on-station are poor. Little experience is available at the coordination level in regional networking, or in working with faba bean, which is a difficult crop. The reaffirmation, acquaintance and follow-up process with national programs has been slow, and regional collaboration uncertain. Tunisia so far has refused to sign an agreement because of budget disputes. A successful devolution would have required a substantially longer ICARDA presence, which the Center did not feel it could provide (given the directives from TAC and the 1988 EPR) and a greater commitment of human and infrastructural resources by the Moroccan NARS. |
(e) Reliable screening techniques for cold tolerance and resistance to Ascochyta blight, wilt and root rot, cyst nematode, leaf miner, Callosobruchus and Orobanche have been developed and useful parental material has been identified, including wild annual Cicer species.
(f) The evaluation of various Rhizobium associations for increasing the efficiency of nitrogen fixation has assisted some NARSs to begin the exploitation of this technology.
(g) A package of improved cultivars and partially mechanized harvesting (swathing) systems for lentils has been adopted over an expanding area.
(h) Seventeen lentil lines have been released by the NARSs in various countries.
(i) Sources of resistance to rust, wilt, Ascochyta blight, Orobanche and drought have also been distributed to the NARSs, and new sources of resistance have been identified in wild Lens.
(j) Effective seed treatment to control nodule damage by Sitona larvae has been developed using an insecticide (Promet).
(k) A field technique for assessing the need for inoculation has been developed and transferred to the NARSs.
(l) In forage legumes, research has led to the selection of non-shattering genotypes in common vetch; the identification of sources of resistance to Orobanche, nematodes, foliar fungal diseases and cold.
(m) Wooly-pod vetch has been identified as a forage of considerable potential for highland areas.
(n) Lines of chickling with low neurotoxin (BOAA) content have been identified.
(o) Some 600 participants received training in the Program between 1989 and 1992.
The Panel commends the leader and staff of LP on the vigorous manner in which they have maintained an effective program and absorbed new work, despite the loss of a major breeding program resulting from the implementation of recommendations of the 1988 EPR.
The LP has responded positively to the directive to reduce the total effort on food legume research. Transference out of the faba bean program has resulted in the loss of two P-level, one postdoctoral and nine support staff. However, the transference in of the forage legume work has resulted in an addition of one P-level, one post-doctoral and four support staff. In addition, the position of plant pathologist, which had been vacant, except for a temporary visiting scientist, since ICRISAT removed support for the position, has recently been filled. The Panel, nevertheless, had difficulty in accepting from its observations and inquiries that forage legumes account for 33% of the total effort in LP, as claimed.
The Panel supports the 1988 EPR in stating that legume research cannot be justified on the basis of the economic role of food legumes in the food system alone. Justification for research on legumes must include their key role in cropping systems that encourage the sustainable productivity of soils in the region, to maintain and increase food production. Discussion of sustainability for the foreseeable future makes little sense without the integrated use of legumes that have a good capacity for the biological fixation of atmospheric nitrogen.
Forage legumes
A further recommendation of the 1988 EPR was that the forage legume breeder be transferred to LP. This transfer was accomplished successfully. The breeder concerned feels the benefits of interacting more closely with others of the same discipline and derives further synergy from direct access to supporting services, especially in pathology and entomology. The Panel accepts that good liaison is maintained with staff in PFLP through informal and frequent contact. There is also close collaboration with the NARSs.
Earlier work on medics in PFLP was not successful and the assumptions leading to its initiation have been questioned. Work in LP on forage legumes is now confined to eight species of Vicia each of which is adapted for specific environments and for Lathyrus species of which the same may be said. These are genuine breeding programs involving hybridization and selection and go beyond the mere selection of ecotypes. The overriding objective is to reduce the area of land left to fallow and to produce forage in zones of 200-300 mm average annual rainfall. Some lines identified have promise for environments below 200 mm average rainfall. For this purpose V. sativa ssp. Amphicarpa, which has subterranean pods providing a drought-avoidance mechanism, is of particular interest. Although lathyrism is not a lethal condition of animals, there is a justifiable program for the reduction of neurotoxins in Lathyrus because they reduce feed intake. Success in this project would have supplementary benefits for the millions of people exposed to lathyrism in Ethiopia and India in very dry areas where no alternative food is available.
Chickpeas
Much emphasis has been placed in LP on the significant yield advantages accruing from winter sowing of chickpeas in areas where winter temperatures are not limiting. Adoption studies in Syria and Morocco confirm that farmers realize the advantage of winter sowing. However, there was a setback in Morocco, where heavy Ascochyta blight infection in on-farms trials caused a reaction in the NARS and loss of farmer confidence in winter chickpea. The breakdown has been attributed to an infection group similar to those found at Tel Hadya and confidence has been restored with varieties, such as FLIP 84-92c, and FLIP-83-48c, which are more resistant than previously used varieties. Some 65,000 ha is estimated by the Program to be under winter sowing in WANA.
Progress has been achieved in understanding the mechanisms of resistance to major biotic, but not abiotic, stresses. Priority was given to elucidating the nature of the host-pathogen relationship for Ascochyta blight as part of a major effort to develop winter chickpea. A longstanding controversy has persisted on whether specific physiological races with virulence/avirulence reactions exist, or whether pathogens vary only in their aggressiveness. Some of the work was summarized in a special workshop hosted by ICARDA and ICRISAT (Singh and Saxena 1992). Recent data using RFLP fingerprinting and biological typing, in collaboration with the University of Frankfurt, shows that genetic variability between isolates exists, which so far has been associated with variation in pathogen aggressiveness. The Panel believes the Program is correct in the emphasis of current work because the effectiveness of breeding strategies and the durability of resistance to Ascochyta blight rely on an accurate understanding of the nature of the host-pathogen interaction. It urges ICARDA to critically review past methods and interpretations of data and to develop effective methods to enable completion of proper pathogenic characterization.
The Program intends to "pyramid" resistance to Ascochyta blight. The Panel believes this strategy to be realistic only if the pathogenic groups used at Tel Hadya are representative of those found throughout the region. The Program intends, by 1997, to develop durable resistance in chickpea to Ascochyta blight using partial resistance traits. The Panel believes this goal is unrealistic considering the uncertainty that still reigns on the variability of the pathogen and the requirement for long-term testing to verify the durability of resistance.
Work at ICARDA on the mechanisms of resistance to various root pathogens has not made significant progress, probably due to justified concentration of resources on Ascochyta blight to develop winter chickpea. Nevertheless, in collaboration with NARSs, sources of resistance have been found. Root-infecting pathogens (including nematodes) are problems of most important legumes in ICARDA's mandate commodities, as well as in cereals. Problems associated with root-infecting pathogens noted as major constraints to production of mandate legumes and their importance are likely to increase in the future with the intensification of cropping systems. The Panel believes this area would benefit from more interdisciplinary research.
Lentils
Work on lentils has concentrated on developing and extending mechanized harvesting technology. It is estimated, but not confirmed, that 20,000 ha were sown for mechanized harvesting in Kamishly, Syria. The Panel commends ICARDA on this work but urges the Program to conduct adoption and impact studies.
The Program, in collaboration with NARSs, has detected high levels of resistance to Fusarium wilt, drought and Ascochyta blight and it is sending earlier segregating materials to NARSs. These efforts should help to produce more stable-yielding, specifically-adapted cultivars for stress environments. Aspects of the context in which research on lentils is conducted are taken up in Box 2.4.
Dry Peas
ICARDA has limited its activities with this crop to evaluating introduced germplasm. The Panel regards the program for dry peas to be appropriate under the optimistic funding scenario. However, it believes funds should be concentrated on higher priority areas if less funding is available.
Biotechnology
The scientist-in-charge has overall responsibility for coordinating the activities of ICARDA in this field (section 2.3.3). Some contrasts in attitude are reflected in the work on cereals and legumes but the use of molecular marker techniques plays a prominent part in both. In legumes, the technology is being applied to less complex objectives where progress can be more easily demonstrated. These include (a) using markers for assisting in the identification of pathotypes, mainly of Ascochyta, which will be extended to Hessian fly in collaboration with Washington State University, (b) using marker techniques to measure genetic diversity, e.g., in lentil germplasm, and (c) using RFLP techniques to assist in the identification of cultivars.
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Box 2.4 Analysis of lentil research investment What is the outcome of ICARDA's in-depth cost/benefit analysis of research on lentil as recommended by the 1988 EPR and endorsed by TAC?1 1 Supplementary question 4, section 1, Appendix 1, of this Report. The 1988 EPR found that research on food legumes was excessive compared to its share in the value of output. It recommended, first, that ICARDA "undertake an analysis of existing evidence on the value of legumes in production systems in the region with respect to both their contribution to soil fertility under stressful conditions and the possibilities for expansion in their use as livestock feed," Second, it recommended to ICARDA "that work on lentil improvement be continued at the present level for two years and, in addition, ICARDA should immediately embark on an in-depth assessment on the potential pay-off of further investment in the improvement of lentil (taking into account the contribution to human nutrition, foreign trade, and the sustainability of production systems in the region) in order to determine the appropriate allocation of its resources." Neither recommendation is exactly the same as what is raised in supplementary question 4.1 IFPRI and ICARDA published a report in 1990 (Oram and Belaid, Legumes in Farming Systems) to comply with these recommendations. An ICARDA book (Osman et al., The Role of Legumes in the Farming Systems of the Mediterranean Areas, 1990) presented 11 country studies, and other relevant papers. The IFPRI/ICARDA summary concludes that (a) cool-season food legumes are nutritionally important; (b) demand for food legumes is rising in WANA and will soon induce more imports unless something is done to relieve the supply constraints; (c) growth in food-legume output has been weak because of deficiencies in technology, national research and extension, seed systems and price policies; (d) major research problems exist to which ICARDA might contribute, including fallow replacement with legumes, tillage, weed control, harvest costs and biological nitrogen fixation; and (e) ICARDA has a strong role to play in food and feed legume research in WANA. Caper (1990 in Osman et al.) found the average contribution of legume straw to ruminant diets in WANA to be about 1.3%, though it was as high as 3% in some countries and 12% within one region of Syria. He concluded that the possibilities were good for using more legume straw as livestock feed and recommended more research along these lines. The IFPRI/ICARDA report about the role of legumes in soil fertility is fragmented, as is the relevant material in Osman et al. Taken together, they can be interpreted as complying with the first part of the first recommendation in a partial fashion. The IFPRI/ICARDA report really says nothing about the possible expansion of legumes as feed sources (the second part of the first recommendation). Based on Caper's paper, however, ICARDA can be said to have complied with the second part of the first recommendation in a roundabout way. ICARDA has not yet complied with the second recommendation. The IFPRI/ICARDA report does "take into account... the contribution to human nutrition, foreign trade, and the sustainability of production systems in the region" in its discussion of lentil, but produces nothing like an "in-depth assessment on the potential pay-off of further investment in the improvement of lentil." The report notes that the previous weight to food legume research was not on lentil, but on faba bean and chickpea, and, moreover, that this weight has lessened. Moreover, ICARDA has apparently continued the then-present (i.e., 1988) level of lentil work for more than two years-In addition to the two recommendations noted above, the 1988 EPR proposed two lines of food and feed legume research: a general one on common problems concerning legumes, e.g., factors affecting BNF or water-use efficiency; and one more dedicated to particular farming systems, such as how legumes fit into those systems. ICARDA has taken several steps to accommodate those proposals. It has reorganized legume research by transferring the legume breeder from PFLP to LP and by directing his work toward Vicia and Lathyrus, mainly in forage production. It has reoriented the BNF work toward common factors affecting BNF efficiency. With the successful construction of the "Tel Hadya linear programming" model, and the imminent beginning of a similar project in Algeria, ICARDA can be said to have really started to study the fit of legumes into farming systems. However, there appears to be no clear strategy on the subject (see the suggestions and recommendation on forage and pasture legume research at the end of section 2.5.3). |
These are all worthwhile applications but assistance to the legume breeders would be enhanced if attention were directed also to host rather than pathogen DNA markers. There is also less importance attached to locating markers in linkage groups in the legume work. The Biotechnology Coordinator firmly supports the stance taken by ICARDA that non-radioactive techniques (RFLP and RAPD) should be used. He is also opposed to working on transgenosis at ICARDA for the foreseeable future.
The solitary foray of LP into transgenosis seems not to have been well thought out. In a collaborative project, a genetically engineered (at Washington State University) strain of Rhizobium was produced that carries a Bt gene conferring resistance to the nodule-attacking larvae of Sitona. Although this is arguably a legitimate target for biotechnology, the work was undertaken in the absence of any planned legislation regulating the testing and release of GMOs in Syria and, in the absence of any approved containment facilities at ICARDA, there seems to be no clear plan for taking this work forward. Furthermore, little is known of the microbial ecology of the transgenic organism or of how to control its spread in the soil.
The Panel urges ICARDA to ensure the coordination of pathology resources between programs, with more concentration on understanding the factors that result in build-up of root-pathogens and the development of management strategies for root-infecting pathogens. Such collaboration should include collaboration between microbiology (microbial ecology), soil sciences, cropping systems research and other disciplines relevant to the study of disease in stressed environments.
The Program has made significant strides in developing methods to measure the contribution of BNF to the nitrogen content of chickpea, the effectiveness of inoculation of chickpea and in strain characterization, tolerance of strains to salt and heat, antibiotics and to varying moisture levels. However, the Program has not yet reported all results that are available to demonstrate it has achieved its goal of understanding the contribution of BNF to nitrogen needs of the cereal-chickpea rotation. The Panel urges that the Program collates these results and presents them clearly.
Since there are, in some quarters, remaining doubts about the adoption of forage legumes in WANA farming systems, the Panel suggests that ICARDA produce a short, well-argued document to justify the continuing program in germplasm enhancement of the species now researched and their intended place in the region's agriculture.
The Panel endorses the view of the Biotechnology Coordinator that it is preferable at present for ICARDA not to undertake work on transgenic material.
Recommendation 2.3
Work on transgenic material should be deferred until there is bio-safety legislation in place in the host country.
2.5.1 Background
2.5.2 Achievements Over the Past Five Years and Assessment
2.5.3 Overview
The economic context of livestock production in WANA is one of growing land and feed scarcity, caused by crop expansion and urbanization. A review of Syria, Tunisia and Turkey (Oram 1988) argued that conversion of grazing to cropland had produced a ruminant feed crisis that will soon cut livestock development, if it had not already done so.
There are three broad livestock production systems in ICARDA's winter rainfall mandate area. They are distinguished chiefly by rainfall and winter temperature. Pastoral (nomadic) systems, agropastoral and mixed crop-livestock systems, as described in the 1988 EPR, are practiced throughout the WANA region. Sheep and goats are the principal species in all these systems. The sheep are local indigenous breeds, generally fat tailed in West Asia and low-land North Africa, and thin tailed in most of the rest of North Africa.
Feed-Legume Systems. The response to land scarcity is intensification in the use of the traditional feed resources, pasture and crop residues, higher feed-grain imports, and a shift to non-ruminants raised on imported feeds. ICARDA has attempted to respond to increasing demands for feeds by developing technologies for feed legumes that have the additional benefit of soil nitrogen enhancement.
Four types of feed-legume systems have been defined (a) annually sown and harvested species, such as vetches, (b) perennials cut for hay but not grazed, such as alfalfa, (c) self-regenerating annual pasture legumes, grown in rotations with cereals, such as medics, and (d) legumes seeded into rangelands, such as perennial medics (Buddenhagen 1990). An ICARDA review (Osman et al. 1990) indicates that type (a) is the most common in WANA, as exemplified by vetch and oat production in Algeria, vetch and Egyptian clover in Morocco, berseem (Trifolium alexandrium) in Egypt, vetch and oats in Tunisia and vetch in Turkey. Type (b) alfalfa occurs in Morocco and Turkey. The focus of ICARDA's effort has been on ley farming (c), with some on (a), a little on (d), and none on (b).
Ley farming has not been successfully transferred on a wide scale in WANA. Attempts to introduce it (Osman et al. 1990, Christiansen et al. 1993) failed or succeeded very partially in Tunisia and Algeria, with limited success in Morocco. Reasons for the failure of ley farming are thought to be (a) colder winter temperatures than in Australia, especially above 1000 m, and poor nodulation, causing low yield of the legume, (b) the depressing effect of the pasture legume on the subsequent cereal due to more acute water competition than with a clean fallow/cereal rotation, and (c) poor grazing management leading to destruction of the legume seed stock.
Structure of Livestock Research. The Pasture Forage and Livestock Program (PFLP) has main responsibility for livestock work. The livestock component of FRMP research, which encompasses primarily long-term rotation trials involving livestock, has decreased markedly in recent years. CP improves wheat and barley, which produce residues consumed by livestock. LP improves food legumes and in addition it has a small forage legume program. This organization provides a focus on the main constraints, is multi-disciplinary and implies a strong need for collaborative work among the Programs.
Future Goals of PFLP Research. These are in three broad areas.
· Improvement of small-ruminant production. ICARDA's work is largely limited to research on sheep production, although many flocks in the regions also include goats. Within the general goal of improving small ruminant production, specific objectives are (a) to assist the plant breeding programs in screening for materials with good nutritive quality, (b) to estimate the nutritive value of typical feeds (straw, stubble and legumes), (c) to identify the causes of low weaning percentages, (d) to relate changes in productivity to feeding and body condition and (e) to identify the major feed-supply constraints to productivity. The Program concentrates on feed shortages as the main barrier to livestock output. The Center does little in animal health. The 1988 EPR recommended that ICARDA not undertake research in animal breeding, although it recommended that the Center do more in evaluating the production potential of regional breeds.
· Improvement of sown-pasture and forage production. The goal is to integrate food or feed legumes into crop rotations and to replace fallow with sown pastures and forages. Benefits could be achieved on as much as 30 million ha of fallow converted to crops. Specific objectives are (a) to develop forage and pasture-seed technology, (b) to study the ecology and potential of pasture legumes, (c) to study rhizobial ecology and nitrogen fixation under cool temperatures and (d) to conduct pasture and grazing management studies.
· Improvement of native pastures and rangelands. The goal is to facilitate better feed supply by improving native pastures and rangelands with legumes and shrubs in drier areas. There would be NRM benefits in addition to augmented feed supply. Specific targets are (a) to study flock and land management constraints to the adoption of improved technology, (b) to identify plant cultivars and rhizobia suitable for reseeding in degraded areas, including inoculation technologies for rhizobia and (c) to test pasture rehabilitation technologies. Other goals are to supply improved forage and pasture legumes through collections and evaluation of local germplasm (GRU).
The chief themes in PFLP are, in the opinion of the Panel, appropriate. Animal nutrition, including forage production and crop management as affecting feed supply, is the most important. Crop-livestock interactions (e.g., ley farming or fallow management), pasture management and crop-residue management are also important. The Center has a logical justification for not working on feedlots and non-ruminants.
Physical Facilities. The principal animal research facilities are at Tel Hadya. The research staff believe that the facilities have the following limitations: (a) the housing for digestibility and rumen studies does not meet the contemporary lead standards for the welfare of experimental animals, (b) the Center does not have a building suitable for experiments involving individual feeding of ewes in late pregnancy and post-lambing, (c) the veterinary laboratory is too small and (d) staff have to travel across the Tel Hadya farm because the facilities are dispersed and telephone service is inadequate. A new unit that remedies these deficiencies has been designed in PFLP and special project funds are currently being sought. The Panel supports this initiative.
Response to the 1988 EPR. The 1988 EPR recommended that ICARDA (a) transfer a P-level economist to PFLP, (b) extend research on annual pasture legumes, grazing management, and livestock husbandry outside Syria, (c) include mixed species herds in livestock and feed management research, (d) include genotypes of different production potentials in livestock and feed management research and (e) contract two additional P-level livestock scientists. The Center has complied with the first three recommendations. A P-level economist was transferred to PFLP. Livestock husbandry has been studied in Pakistan and a major project is now launched in Algeria. The Center has not complied with the final two. It has initiated limited work on genotypes of different production potentials and, for lack of resources, has not contracted two additional P-level livestock scientists.
Main Results
ICARDA's main results from its pasture, forage and livestock research may be itemized as follows:
(a) identification of forage and pasture legumes (Mediterranean) tolerant to cold, disease and pests;(b) identification of specific strains of medic rhizobia with greater ability to fix nitrogen;
(c) development of rotations of cereals and self-regenerating annual pasture medics in Syria and methods to extend this work to other sites. PFLP has produced four books, all relevant to the topic, that summarize regional experience;
(d) identification of constraints to pasture legume/cereal rotations through on-farm trials in northern Syria;
(e) identification of methods for boosting the potential productivity of marginal lands near Aleppo;
(f) demonstration that medic pasture and vetch rotations can increase total soil N and organic matter;
(g) demonstration that better nutrition at mating can raise the productivity of Awassi ewes;
(h) preliminary indication that variation in productivity traits within populations of Syrian sheep makes selection programs feasible;
(i) identification of anti-nutritional factors in some legume seeds; and
(j) indication, through studies in Syria and Pakistan, that some degradation of marginal rangeland could be reversed with simple technologies, such as using small amounts of P, establishing Atriplex and resting the pasture. Annual pasture legumes that could improve grazing lands in the drier environments have also been identified.
The nutritive quality of crop residues is a recent theme. ICARDA found that differences in the intake and nutritive value of barley and wheat straw result from differences in plant morphology and structure, which, in turn, differ according to drought stress and variety.
Current Work
The PFLP has four major themes (a) small ruminants nutrition and management, (b) sown pastures and forages, (c) socioeconomics and (d) marginal lands and rangelands. In an internal priorities exercise, PFLP argued that 24%, 22%, 24% and 23% of its resources should be devoted to those themes, respectively, with the remaining 7% to training.
Small ruminants nutrition and management. Animal scientists at Tel Hadya are expanding work on the nutritive value of cereal straws and stubble, which provide at least 40% of the annual feed to flocks in the region. They are also studying the interaction between stubble grazing and supplementation strategies. PFLP is also working on barley straw quality to ensure that ICARDA does release germplasm that is also appropriate in this aspect. Rapid assessment methods using small quantities of straw are being developed. This work may be expanded to wheat and lentil straws. Another experiment compared Turkish and Syrian Awassi ewes at two levels of nutrition. The Turkish ewes yielded 25% more milk yield at both levels of nutrition, but the best animals in each group gave nearly identical results.
One issue is the lack of analysis of the long-term rotation trials at Tel Hadya with respect to their implications for feed supply and supplementary feed management. Another problem relates to ICARDA's role in animal genetic improvement. While there is a consensus that ICARDA should not engage in livestock-breeding research per se, there are cogent arguments that it should do something to assist the national programs in indigenous breed evaluation.
Sown pastures and forages. Given the possible importance of feed legumes in mixed cropping/grazing systems, and the past difficulties experienced in introducing improved medic systems in the region, it is entirely appropriate that ICARDA put major emphasis on such systems. A long-term crop rotation and grazing trial has been conducted at Tel Hadya since 1985/86, at Breda since 1987/88 and, in collaboration with the Government of Syria, at Kamishli; an economic analysis of this work has been completed recently (Nordblom et al. 1992). A similar project began near El-Khroub, Algeria in 1992. The Panel endorses this work. Close collaboration is planned between PFLP and LP, and there is at present frequent informal contact.
Socioeconomics. There is an effective collaboration between the economist and the natural scientists. The PFLP economist seeks to evaluate quantity, quality and temporal distribution of feed, to determine the economics of pasture-crop rotations and marginal-rangelands regeneration techniques, and to identify land tenure and flock-management systems and their impact on adoption of new technologies. Other relevant pursuits include government policies affecting relative prices of produced and purchased feeds, and support services such as seeds, fertilizer, animal breeding and extension.
Marginal lands and rangelands. ICARDA defines rangelands as having (a) winter rainfall and (b) total annual rainfall between 100-400 mm. Rangelands cover about 315 million ha and produce 50-500 kg/ha of usable dry matter. Measures to raise rangeland productivity have not been successful, which has been attributed to low and variable rainfall, poor soils and outmoded range tenure. The economic justification for rangeland improvement is questionable and merits further study, together with new agronomic approaches.
Some justifications for developing rangeland research, even with an uncertain expected return, are: (a) ICARDA is virtually the only institution effectively engaged in this work in WANA; (b) the poverty of the rangeland populations; (c) the close interactions between the rangelands and related arable farming areas; and (d) concern about rangeland degradation arising from overgrazing and soil erosion (or common-property reasons). The "unique institution" argument is weak, although the validity of the proposition may, for some observers and investors, provide sufficient qualification for some research. The "poverty" argument has been difficult to put into practice because of the severe problems encountered in eliminating poverty in marginal agricultural areas. Proponents of the poverty argument have (i) to admit that the prospects for success through research are poor and (ii) to compare the expected efficiency of reducing poverty through research with that of reducing it through alternative means.
The "interactions" argument depends on the fact that livestock can use seasonal feed and water in widely separated places. Relevant examples are in Syria, Algeria and Morocco where sheep move back and forth between rangelands and farming areas. Many other examples are known in West Africa and Asia. This argument raises the concern that productivity improvements in the adjacent farming areas increase pressure on the rangelands, even if research has not affected production practices there. That pressure creates an implicit demand for rangelands research so as to use the full potential of technical change in the farming areas.
While research on rangelands can be justified for the interactions and common-property reasons, quantitative answers to the questions needed to justify rangelands research do not exist at present. Getting them will be costly because the answers will only become apparent over time. ICARDA will have to commit resources to answering these questions.
ICARDA's outreach program in Balochistan has, over the past seven years, conducted initial evaluations of rangeland productivity and established farmer-controlled interventions on feed availability and Atriplex plantations. Simultaneously, PFLP has had a major range-restoration experiment on a Syrian Government station since 1990 to test the effects of edible shrubs (Atriplex sp. and Salsola sp.) and grazing pressure on sustainable range productivity. Other work on rangelands includes a socioeconomic survey focusing on Bedouin systems of the steppe southeast of Aleppo.
Resource Allocation to Livestock. ICARDA has not complied fully with the 1988 EPR recommendations about livestock and legume research. Resources allocated to legumes have been reduced (section 2.1). The Panel recognizes that resources allocated to PFLP do not reflect congruently the importance of livestock in the WANA region. The question of emphasis is specifically addressed in Box 2.5.
Nutrition and Management. The work on small ruminant nutrition and management appears to be relevant to the major problems, is well-directed and of good quality. The major problem identified by the Panel is the lack of resources to analyze data from some of the long-term rotation trials. The Panel strongly urges ICARDA to complete and publish this work.
The Panel considered the suggestion that ICARDA establish a network to assist national programs in the evaluation of animal genetic resources in the WANA region, with particular emphasis on small ruminants. The proposed network would provide training on the design of breeding programs but would not collect primary data. The network may not need full-time staff, but would require consistent external expertise in animal breeding and close collaboration with ILCA and ILRAD. The Panel suggests, however, that such a network should not be initiated unless special-project funds are secured.
Forage Legume Research. Appraisal of feed-legume germplasm and its integration into production systems is a long and complex process. A possible cause of lack of impact has been the absence of long-term programs to study the use of those materials in actual production systems. The Panel believes that expansion of research on livestock/production systems should take place where a "critical mass" of staff can work on both a cereal/livestock system and on an adjacent rangelands system. This work should be expanded beyond Syria; work in Algeria would also be appropriate as funds permit.
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Box 2.5 Relative emphasis on livestock research How does the Center justify its low allocation of resources to livestock research, relative to its high investment in food legumes, in view of the importance of livestock in the region, as highlighted in ICARDA's Strategic Plan?1 1 Supplementary question 5, section I, Appendix 1, on p. 112 of this Report. The Panel met with much difficulty in its attempt to answer this question. On the one hand, it fully endorses ICARDA's rationale and assessment, as outlined in its Strategic Plan, that livestock production is a major contributor to the incomes and well-being of the vast majority of people throughout the WANA region. However, ICARDA has not found itself able to increase the resources allocated to livestock work, partly because of financial constraints. Neither ICARDA nor the Panel has accepted completely the implication in the question that food legumes should assume a low priority in the WANA region, for reasons discussed more fully in section 2.4. Food legumes are important in the diet of many poor people in the WANA region and, in the opinion of the Panel, LP cannot be further reduced and remain viable. Against this background, it is nevertheless the Panel's view that ICARDA must fundamentally re-assess its Pasture Forage and Livestock Program. ICARDA should expand its work on livestock using a broad definition, including work on animal husbandry and mixed farming systems management. Because, inevitably, resources for such work will always be limited, the Panel proposes that ICARDA should establish strong collaborative livestock research projects with the NARSs. Within WANA, there are several existing NARS establishments with experience in small-ruminant production and research, and the Panel believes that special-project funding could be attracted for such NARS/ICARDA collaboration. |
The Panel suggests that the forage legume breeder, jointly with the leaders of LP and PFLP, reach a detailed agreement on the forage legume enhancement program. The agreed program would comprise target environments and farming systems, principal species and other specific objectives such as fallow replacement. The agreement would become the outline of the plant breeder's work during the next five years, upon acceptance by management.
A statement of an ICARDA strategy on ley farming is overdue, given its potential importance in the intensification of livestock production in WANA. The Panel suggests that the Center formally articulates a strategy on the future of ley farming that clearly specifies ICARDA's future research program in this area, surely drawing on Center syntheses such as reported by Christiansen et al. (1993, pp. 294-5).
Recommendation 2.4
In view of the ongoing debate within the Center and the many different attitudes that exist among its main partners, the NARSs, ICARDA should give immediate attention to the development of a comprehensive rangelands research strategy, in which the Center's role would clearly be identified.
2.6.1 Background
2.6.2 Achievements and Assessment
2.6.3 Current and Planned Work
2.6.4 Overview
The focus of social sciences at ICARDA is technology analysis. This is because ICARDA social scientists, as do those at other Centers, have a comparative advantage derived from their close working relations with the natural scientists. Technology analysis usefully and typically entails five stages (a) diagnosis and problem identification, (b) identification of potential solutions, (c) collaborative experimental design, (d) post-experimental analysis and (e) adoption and impact studies. ICARDA's social science research portfolio is consistent with such a categorization.
Organization and Resources. The social sciences have never had a separate program or unit at ICARDA. While the social scientists have always been involved primarily in work that has usually be described as farming systems research, there has never been a permanent organizing activity, such as ICRISAT's Village Level Studies. An initial effort at ICARDA of studying village systems was suspended after some years, as it did not serve as a locus of technology generation. Headquarters social scientists are now allocated between PFLP and FRMP. Two Rockefeller Fellows are outposted to the North Africa and Nile Valley Regional Programs.
Social scientists do not have sufficient staff support, especially relative to that enjoyed by most of ICARDA's natural scientists. The social scientists require numerate research assistants, who are unlikely to be available from within the existing technical staff of the other scientists. The lack of support staff obliges the social scientists to use post-graduate students or visiting national scientists in an "assistant" capacity, a practice that is questionable in any case, but is certainly an undesirable substitute for trained, long-term socioeconomic staff on regular contracts.
Evolution. Historical development of social science research at ICARDA roughly falls into three clear phases corresponding to the periods covered by external reviews. During the initial period, the emphasis was on diagnosis of the farming systems of northwest Syria, Sudan and Egypt (the Nile Valley Project) and the identification of problems and possible solutions. During the second period, collaboration in experimental design with biological scientists was increased. Following the 1988 EPR, ex post evaluations of experimental programs, adoption and impact studies were initiated, reflecting a desire to study and perhaps quantify ICARDA's progress in technology development and transfer. Social scientists began working in the North Africa and Highland Regional Programs.
ICARDA staff have done considerable work in diagnosis/constraint identification, technology evaluation and adoption and impact studies since the 1988 EPR.
Diagnosis and Constraint Identification. A series of papers - impressive indeed in volume, scope, analytical content and relevance - about the Balochistan Province of Pakistan described the farming systems, identified some of the constraints to higher productivity and evaluated relevant technologies. Useful work was done in farm surveys, sheep production and wheat disease research, and continues with economic analysis of water harvesting and livestock marketing research.
Technology Evaluation. Two major papers indicate that ley farming in Syria and the intensified feeding of pregnant ewes are not yet profitable enough to extend to farmers. Both papers indicate promising avenues to improve those technologies. A study of supplemental irrigation of wheat in Syria indicated the beneficial aspects of this technology. ICARDA staff have made an ex ante estimate of the benefits to research and extension in sheep production in Pakistan and a more qualitative justification of national program research on camels in that country. Similar estimates are available for water harvesting in Balochistan. Little has been done to measure the impact of ICARDA research on income distribution, with the exception of a study of the effects of winter chickpea production on women's labor demands in Tunisia. Gender issues more generally have been addressed in the socioeconomic-led work of the Center (Box 2.6).
Technology Adoption and Impact. The Center has answered the recommendation of the 1988 EPR that it carry out adoption studies. Surveys and analyses of winter sowing of chickpeas have been done in partnership with national programs in Morocco and Syria. The evolution of lentil production practices and the benefits of mechanical harvesting of lentils have been studied in Syria. An adoption and impact study of modern wheat production in Syria was begun in 1991, and the preliminary results reported. The impact of improved faba bean and wheat technology in the Sudan was assessed under the auspices of the Nile Valley Regional Program. Other studies of improved cereal and food legume technologies are currently underway in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Syria, Sudan and Egypt.
Social scientists have on-going activities in diagnosis, technology evaluation, adoption and impact, and policy, where the latter includes some work on common-property questions. The work's coverage is broad in terms of commodity, country and farming system. Data-collection methods include surveys, field trials and literature reviews. Analytic methods include partial budgeting, econometrics and programming models. These methods are more than adequate to ICARDA's mission and little need be done to develop new ones. Exceptions should be broadly applicable by national programs. An example is the work on eliciting farmers' subjective yield distributions in Syria and Morocco.
Diagnosis. Recent diagnostic studies include work on forage, pasture and animal production in Morocco; surveys of dryland farming in Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Pakistan, Libya and Lebanon; two diagnostic studies in regions of Turkey; and a livestock marketing study in Pakistan.
There have also been several "regional" papers in this category as part of the 1990-94 World Wheat Facts and Trends (jointly published with CIMMYT), and as background for the 1994-98 MTP. The latter include: the economic setting of WANA agriculture, research issues in the rangelands, trends in livestock feed supply and demand, and feedlots as a possible research topic.
Technology Evaluation. The main evaluation work thus far has been in Syria, with work on lentil mechanization, supplemental irrigation, crop rotations on the Tel Hadya station, fertilizer use on rangelands and establishment of edible shrubs on rangelands. There is an on-going economic analysis of water harvesting trials in Libya, Pakistan and Syria. FRMP and PFLP staff are planning further work on the economics of joint grain and straw production in barley.
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Box 2.6 Gender analysis in ICARDA research Around 1988, the results of an ICARDA study on legume harvesting and mechanization created an awareness at the Center that gender issues could indeed be significant to research on agriculture in the WANA region. This gave ICARDA cause to rethink the issue; gender bad been addressed earlier to a limited extent but was found to be of little significance at the farm level in WANA. As ICARDA staffing in social sciences was thin, this supposition had gone unchallenged. From 1988 - when ICARDA had only two social scientists - to 1992, a few isolated projects contained a gender component. In 1992 the CGIAR Gender Program gave the Center an impetus and offered guidance in assessing the importance of gender analysis to the ICARDA research agenda. In mid-1992 ICARDA requested the Gender Program to provide training in awareness and methods for ICARDA scientists, and to conduct a review of the research portfolio with respect to the appropriateness and opportunities for usefully incorporating a gender perspective. Two consultants visited ICARDA over the course of eight days, and prepared a useful report. An ICARDA Gender Analysis and Research Committee, appointed by the DG, has reviewed the consultants' report and considered implementation. Their favored approach would be to incorporate a "user perspective" into ongoing and new research, rather than to conduct isolated "gender research projects." To explore possibilities, members of the Committee initiated discussions informally, with ICARDA scientists conducting or planning relevant research, and ideas are emerging on how and where gender might be incorporated. The next step will be for the Committee (recently expanded to include representation from all Programs) to meet with Management to recommend and discuss an institutional approach for addressing gender in research at ICARDA. One difficulty ICARDA faces is that the body of gender-related research relevant to agriculture in the WANA region appears quite limited, so ICARDA is breaking new ground. In order to enhance ICARDA's (and NARSs') broad understanding of the topic, the Center has commissioned a consultant to undertake a six-month study. The work involves a number of activities aimed at providing a firm base for linking gender issues in agriculture within the WANA region with ICARDA's research activities. The results should assist ICARDA in determining future gender-related research priorities more cogently than in the past. |
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The Panel is pleased to learn of the growing attention at ICARDA to gender analysis, and that steps are being taken to examine this issue from an institutional (ICARDA-wide) basis, The Panel endorses this approach and encourages the Center to move forward (with requisite resource commitment), in order that gender analysis become an integral part of research at ICARDA. |
Policy. Whilst the 1988 EPR expressed a strong opinion that ICARDA eschew policy work, given IFPRI's size and competence in this field; the reality is that (a) IFPRI is, in fact, quite a small institute relative to the potential policy-research domain, even in WANA, and (b) many analyses of technology and NRM issues simply cannot be abstracted from the surrounding circumstances of agricultural and general economic policy. The contribution of social science research to the analysis of these issues, as well as the dominance of economic situations in determining what is possible, has been noted elsewhere (e.g., section 2.2).
Planned research includes policy analysis, per se, and studies of "governance and management of public systems." In the former, ICARDA seeks dialogue with regional governments to enhance awareness of policy environments and to discuss specific policy options. Individual projects include reviews of national policies that affect adoption of ICARDA technologies, and meetings to discuss policy questions with national program partners. In the latter, ICARDA will seek to develop a better understanding of public institutions that determine research outcomes. Specific examples of research projects are government policies on pasture legume release, and public institutions dealing with open-access resources, including rangeland.
Common Properties. The main common-property work consists of new projects on rangeland management and groundwater use in Syria. It is expected that the projects will identify conditions for sustainable management of those resources.
Work in the social sciences is commendable. The program recognizes and seemingly has some organizational and resource needs, however, related to a Center-wide failure to exploit fully the potential of the social sciences. The Panel endorses ICARDA's limited role in on-policy research per se. It strongly suggests that the Center seeks stronger ties with IFPRI in this area, nonetheless. There appear to be many experimental data at Tel Hadya that have not been analyzed from an economic point of view. The Panel suggests that, among the activities mentioned previously, the considered priority work possibilities should include reviewing the data to determine what are amenable to such analysis, and preparing a plan for economic analysis.
A problem caused by the dispersed organization of the social scientists is that it may diminish their professional authority and potential effectiveness within the Center. To bolster this authority and to improve ICARDA's social science research contribution to the Center's mission. Management and Program Leaders should seek to ensure that the work is of the highest feasible standard, encourage comparative studies and above all, allocate increased attention to social science. The social scientists do not necessarily need a separate program. Their work is already well-integrated with that of the natural scientists. Such reorganization would risk damaging the integration with perhaps no real benefit in prospect. If, however, Management feels that a separate unit would be administratively an easier solution to the problem of insufficient support, this option should be considered.
Should the funding outlook for ICARDA become less bleak, the Panel suggests that the Center might in due course seek to recruit a well-known individual, preferably one with broad experience in another center or similar institution, as a lead social scientist.1 Such a person should probably best be an economist and, if so, might under the prevailing circumstances best be attached to the DDG-R's office. Responsibilities would include:
(a) enhance the quality of all social science work, ranging from writing protocols, to executing field work and advancing publication efforts;
(b) advise Management on research priorities;
(c) analyze ex ante the economics of ICARDA's Programs and projects, encompassing issues such as the optimal size of crop improvement research and the economic justification for crop protection studies; and
(d) manage economic aspects of a major long-term project, e.g., broad studies of factor markets or environmental problems in which detailed papers are done by visiting social scientists, including post-docs.
1 This paragraph and several earlier ones in this section constitute a response to supplementary question 5, section I, Appendix 1, on p. 112 of this Report.
In order to attract a suitable candidate as lead social scientist, ICARDA should compensate the position at the level of Program Leader, although the position would bear no administrative responsibilities as such.
In addition to the needs for stronger leadership, the social sciences are also constrained by a lack of support staff and computer software. It is impossible to conduct surveys and analyze data without support staff. Management accepted the recommendation of the 1988 EPR to hire more support staff for the social scientists, but has not acted upon it. The Panel supports an arrangement whereby each social scientist in the PFLP and FRMP would have at least one qualified research assistant with her/his own PC, and considers it reasonable that the social scientists should receive priority for re-allocation of support staff among Programs, given existing disparities. There are natural scientists with many new experiments going on while old ones wait to be analyzed. Some "discipline" might be imposed by re-allocating some resources tied up in their field support staff to the social scientists.
The Panel is aware of ICARDA's difficulties in attracting the desired level of donor support to its four Programs. The balance of resource allocations across Programs should, in general, reflect the priority needs of the WANA region, as articulated in the Center's Strategic Plan. In attempting to move in that direction, ICARDA has recently developed a within-Program prioritization mechanism based on a subjective assessment of the possibilities of developing impact-focused technologies that will meet with wide farmer acceptance. The Panel commends ICARDA on this initiative. Noticeably, still absent, however, is a transparent basis to determine and apply resource allocation priorities across Programs. The Panel urges ICARDA now to tackle this logical next step.
Following the 1988 EPR, the Center made some readjustment of the balance between the four main research programs. The breeding of faba beans has been transferred to a NARS but there has been a compensatory transfer of forage legume work into the general legume germplasm-enhancement effort. ICARDA still has a substantial commitment in a broad sense to germplasm enhancement of the major cereal and legume crops, which absorbs approximately one-half of the total resources.
The Panel believes that the continuation of legume research at ICARDA is important because of the significance of legumes in human and animal nutrition and also for their contribution to sustainable agriculture in the region. The Panel considers that the present allocation of effort in LP is close to an irreducible minimum for meaningful operation. For example, there are only two breeders of food legumes, excluding the Program Leader who doubles as an agronomist, and one of these is supported by ICRISAT.
The transfer into LP of the forage legume work has operationally proved a success, and there is good informal liaison with PFLP that would benefit from more structured coordination. In the opinion of the Panel, the breeding work in forage legumes is now more appropriately focused on species more relevant to the ecoregion that ICARDA serves. The germplasm enhancement work is, in itself, well-conducted, but some questions have been raised about its underlying economic justification. PFLP needs to assemble a case to establish the probable adoption of forage legumes by farmers.
LP has engaged in innovative work, particularly with respect to the development of a technology package for the winter sowing of chickpeas and to a lesser extent for lentils. Mechanization of the latter crop together with modification of the germplasm, have facilitated adoption of improvements in lentil farming, although some problems, notably of disease resistance and weed control, remain to be solved. Pathology is probably an even more important component of legume than it is of cereal improvement but it has received inadequate resources until recently.
As far as the Panel is able to judge, CP is having a beneficial impact in the region, although data in support of this claim tend to be presented in terms of varieties released by the NARSs rather than by hectarage occupied. Since barley is of major significance in the ecoregional definition of ICARDA's mandate, it is appropriate that this crop is assuming a somewhat higher profile. Impact within the host country has been disappointing so far but progress in establishing and supporting programs with the NARSs in parts of North Africa has been commendable. The barley program is now taking the lead in putting empirical breeding work on to a firmer conceptual basis, and in advancing the trend towards more specific adaptation in CP generally.
Wheat improvement has had a more measurable impact in the host country than has barley, and the durum program in particular has identified material with improved tolerance of drought stress. Cereal improvement for the Highland Program made a slow start for various reasons but is now coming on stream and division of labor with regard to bread wheat, durum and barley has concentrated the effort of individual scientists and improved the efficiency of this part of the overall program.
The Panel found it difficult to assess the impact of ICARDA in the WANA region.
Recommendation 2.5
ICARDA should conduct impact studies of its major technologies so that, by the time of the next ER, clear quantified data are available.
There is some concern that CP is no longer directly involved at the agronomic interface with farmers with respect to new varieties. Given that the NARSs have the responsibility for the release of these, and the location specificity of most agronomic work, it thus seems that the responsibility should indeed be devolved, with only the weaker NARSs being supported by ICARDA. The proposed intensification of effort on cereals physiology can be justified in terms of understanding stress tolerance and thereby hopefully refining breeding objectives. The Panel is also concerned that cereals pathology may be inadequately covered following the transfer of wheat pathology to Ankara.
The Panel recognizes that the very heterogeneous nature and capability of the NARSs in the region means that the planned progressive transfer of responsibility to the NARSs for germplasm enhancement will not proceed uniformly across the region in the immediate future, and ICARDA will need to remain flexible and selective in the conduct of its germplasm enhancement programs.
The Panel has raised questions about the scale of ICARDA's involvement in biotechnology. Objectives set for LP are deliberately less ambitious than those targeted in the cereals work, where some attempts to mark QTLs have been registered. The concentration on marker technologies in both areas is deemed appropriate. However, the Panel believes that an earlier solitary venture by LP into transgenosis, resulting in the presence on-site of Rhizobium carrying a Bt gene for resistance to Sitona larvae, was not well-considered, given the current absence of biosafety legislation in the host country.
Integrated Pest Management is becoming a more prominent pan of ICARDA's research strategy, which follows current lead thinking in plant protection circles about crop-management approaches that foster the development of sustainable agriculture. The implications of this are discussed in Box 2.7.
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Box 2.7 Integrated pest and disease management ICARDA has committed itself to the concept of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in its 1994-98 MTP. As is the case for several other IARCs, however, it has not yet seriously adopted the principles embodied in the acronym, especially in plant pathology. It has not clearly defined its use of the term IPM, which is well-depicted as "a systems approach to reduce pest damage to tolerable levels through a variety of techniques, including predators and parasites, genetically resistant hosts, natural environmental modifications and, when necessary and appropriate, chemical pesticides..." (Bird et al. 1990). The concept recognizes the importance of management rather than eradication of pests, and the often site-specific nature of disease-management strategies. It is a philosophy based on the use of ecological principles to manage pests and diseases. ICARDA has worked on many aspects of plant protection, including components on which IPM strategies are built, but often as yet lacks the integration of social, ecological and economic perspectives on pest management. As a general observation, ICARDA, with its limited resources in plant protection, will need to make a serious decision about whether to invest in IPM-oriented research, or in component research, such as studying mechanisms of resistance to biotic constraints, with the aim of developing durable resistance to arthropod pests and diseases. Under the present 1994-98 MTP scenario it is highly unlikely that the Legume Program, for example, could make significant strides either to develop effective IPM strategies for its commodities with an allocation of 2.56 SSM/y, or to effectively study the genetics of resistance of important pathogens with 3.89 SSM/y (1994-98 MTP, p. 156). |
FRMP interacts at various points with the other Programs within ICARDA, but the Panel had insufficient time to assess adequately the depth of these interactions. Some formalization of the interaction would be beneficial. In general, the Panel has formed the opinion that resources in FRMP are too thinly spread and that there is a need to concentrate effort on defined priority targets. Involvement in the outreach programs appears diffuse with, for example, only socioeconomists outposted. The Panel believes that special funds would be forthcoming to support work on NRM, thereby increasing "critical mass," and would encourage ICARDA to formulate proposals that would attract such financing.
With regard to livestock work in PFLP, the Panel is acutely conscious of the dilemma imposed by budgetary problems that are unlikely to permit increased resource allocations. The question is addressed in Box 2.5. There are, at present, only two scientists directly involved in research on animals. A definitive strategy document from PFLP regarding ley farming is still awaited and is much needed. Rangeland management is similarly awaiting a definitive policy statement. At present, the scarcity of resources in and the organization of this program are rendering its activities peripheral to the dominant problems of livestock in the WANA region.
The Panel is deeply concerned about the intrinsic unsustainability of regular cropping in the low-rainfall areas with highly erodible soils. Successful cropping is at best opportunistic and at worst environmentally devastating. Yet the populations so highly reliant on albeit irregular food production from these areas are as deserving (and on equity grounds perhaps more so) of some as yet-unattained rewards from technological progress, however modest, in their agricultural enterprises. Increased pest resistance, and drought tolerance and avoidance-capability would be steps towards such progress, whilst research on the management of the soil resource base, under different types of land-use systems, would be helpful in informing land administrators and policy analysts more fully of their options.
Last, but not least, socioeconomic analysis in terms of its importance and central position in the research program in general, must continue and, as resources permit, be strengthened in two ways. First, by increasing the research-assistance support to make more efficient use of the present already quite productive senior staff and second, should a vacancy become available, adding greater seniority to the effort through a further appointment of a widely experienced research economist. This experience should include research evaluation and priority-setting work, especially in an IARC context.
Given the present and probable future financial climate facing ICARDA, the Panel believes that there would be synergistic advantages in merging the commodity programs of CP and LP into one group and from merging PFLP and FRMP into another (section 4.4.9). In the first case the synergy would mainly result from sharing support activities in plant protection, physiology/agronomy and biotechnology. In the case of PFLP/FRMP the advantages envisaged would result from a more efficient deployment of limited resources into the farming systems aspects of NRM. Formal mechanisms would seem to be required to ensure effective integration of activities between the two merged programs.
