ICARDA annual report 2004

Mr Refet Yilmazoglu (center), GAP Regional Director, being received by Prof. Dr Adel
El-Beltagy (left), ICARDA Director General, during his visit to ICARDA along with 11
agro-pioneer farmers from Tukey. Standing behind is Mr Mehmet Emin Akil, farmer
representative, and on the right, Dr Moussa Mosaad, ICARDA/GAP Coordinator.
wheat improvement; a program to
foster adoption of low-cost durum
technologies (IRDEN Project); and a
third project on the use of naturally
occurring fungi to control Sunn
pest.
The joint Turkey/CIMMYT/
ICARDA International Winter
Wheat Improvement Program
(IWWIP) continued to collaborate
with NARS in the region.
Germplasm is developed and tested
in Turkey and Syria before it is
dispatched to a large number of
sites in CWANA. A total of 100 sets
of international nurseries for different
ICARDA crops were provided
to Turkish partners for testing at
research institutes and universities.
ICARDA also has strong collaboration
with the Southeastern
Anatolia Project (GAP). GAP is
mainly a development project operating
under Turkey’s Prime
Minister’s Office to promote agriculture
and improve the livelihood
of farmers in the Southeastern
Anatolia region. The collaboration
covers two projects: “On-farm
Demonstrations and Seed
Multiplication” and “Improvement
of Natural Pastures and Forage
Crops and Small Ruminant
Production.” Improved and adapted
varieties of wheat, barley, lentil,
and chickpea have been introduced,
along with improved production
practices. These are being
transferred through on-farm trials
in cooperation with progressive
farmers. The improved cultivars of
different crops yielded much higher
in demonstration fields than the
local cultivars grown elsewhere in
the region. ICARDA provided the
GAP project with one ton of quality
seed of ‘Idlib-3’ lentil, as this variety
is expected to be released in
Turkey soon. Also, ICARDA provided
800 fodder-shrub seedlings,
seeds of eight Atriplex species, and
new forage legumes for testing. The
introduced material is monitored
and evaluated by GAP staff, local
extension personnel, and cooperating
ICARDA scientists.
The Technical and Steering
Committee Meeting of the GAP-
RDA/ICARDA Project was held at
ICARDA headquarters in February.
Achievements of the previous season
were reviewed, and workplans
for the next season were developed.
A new agreement was signed to
cover the revised, expanded workplans.
International Cooperation
Human resource development
Fifteen Turkish scientists from the
Ministry of Agriculture and GAP
visited ICARDA for 1 to 2 weeks to
participate in training courses on
seed production, water management,
data management and analysis,
lentil hybridization and breeding
techniques, and scientific writing
and data presentation. Four
Turkish wheat breeders visited the
IWWIP to get acquainted with the
program activities at ICARDA. A
group of 11 agro-pioneer farmers
and six senior officials from GAP
areas visited ICARDA. The group
viewed crops, seed, and livestock
production activities at ICARDA
and in some areas in Syria.
One training course was conducted
in Turkey on “Strategic
Feeding of Small Ruminants and
Improvement of Milk Yield,” in
which farmers, agricultural
researchers and extensionists participated.
Thirteen ICARDA scientists
visited Turkey to provide technical
backstopping and monitoring
of collaborative activities.
To transfer the experience to
neighboring countries, ICARDA in
collaboration with GAP, organized
a traveling workshop on livestock
and milk production and the development
of dairy sector in Jordan
for GAP president and six staff.
Iran
Collaborative activities in Iran,
under the ICARDA/Iran project,
are coordinated through the
ICARDA Office in Tehran, which
was established in 1996 at the
premises of the Agricultural
Research and Education
Organization (AREO), and is headed
by an ICARDA scientist.
Collaborative research
A combination of factors including
the development of improved varieties
and better agricultural prac-
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