ICARDA annual report 2004

Two training workshops were
organized in Iran during the year
within the framework of the
Karkheh River Basin (KRB) projects
funded by the Challenge Program
on Water and Food. The first workshop
focused on participatory
research approach and participatory
diagnosis. It was held in Karaj
and Kermanshah in September.
More than 35 national research staff
and extension officers participated
in the training. The second workshop
focused on farmer innovation
and innovators. It was held in
Kermanshah in November with the
participation of 23 staff members
involved in the two projects. The
participants were introduced to
concepts of indigenous knowledge
and farmer innovation, and discussed
ways of integrating the
available knowledge with new
innovations.
Central Asia and the
Caucasus Regional
Program
Established in 1998, the Central
Asia and the Caucasus (CAC)
Regional Program promotes
regional cooperation in research,
capacity building, and human
resource development in countries
of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan in Central Asia; and
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
in the Caucasus. In a short span,
strong partnerships with the CAC
NARS have been built in
germplasm improvement, plant
genetic resources, soil and water
management, integrated feed and
livestock production, and human
resource development.
Collaborative research
Training workshops
were conducted
in Iran to
introduce the
concepts and
practices of
farmer-participatory
research
to the staff of
two projects of
the Challenge
Program on
Water and
Food.
Collaborative research made considerable
progress in 2004. Six varieties
of wheat developed from the
germplasm supplied by ICARDA
were released: ‘Azametly 95’ and
‘Nurlu 99’ in Azerbaijan, ‘Jamin,’
‘Zubkov’ and ‘Azirbosh’ in
Kyrgyzstan and ‘Bitarap’ in
Turkmenistan. Also, one variety
each of barley, chickpea and lentil
were released. In addition, more
than 54 promising varieties are
being tested for final release by the
different countries in the region. A
major thrust has been on the seed
production of improved varieties
and their testing on farmers’ fields.
An IPM strategy for the control
of yellow rust was developed by
studying the race spectrum and
identification of resistant genes to
International Cooperation
be deployed in the breeding programs
to replace the susceptible
varieties. Also, a Cereal Leaf Beetle
Nursery (CLBN) was established
for the first time in Kyrgyzstan for
evaluation of resistance of bread
wheat lines to this insect pest.
ICARDA and IPGRI provided
technical support for the renovation
of the Uzbek Genebank and
germplasm storage facilities at the
Uzbek Cotton Breeding Research
Institute, the Research Institute of
Genetics and Experimental Biology
of Plants and the Andijan Research
Institute of Grain and Legume
Crops. In Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
and Georgia, considerable progress
was made to establish national
genetic resources centers with
medium-term storage facilities, for
which the CGIAR program is providing
the necessary backstopping
support. In Azerbaijan, efforts are
underway to establish a separate
Genetic Research Institute.
In collaboration with NARS, the
Vavilov Institute (VIR-Russia) and
the ACIAR, collection missions were
organized in all the eight countries
of CAC. A total of 2484 accessions of
different crops have been collected,
of which 364 accessions were collected
in Armenia and 318 in
Tajikistan during the year.
Within the framework of the
Central Asia and the Trans
Caucasian Plant Genetic Resources
(CATPGRN) Network, eight working
groups on plant genetic
resources (PGR) on ICARDA’s mandate
crops were established in countries
of CAC. Each group comprises
three specialists on grain crops,
legume crops, and documentation.
ICARDA provided all the eight
groups with computers to establish
a documentation system for the
plant genetic resources in their
countries and supported training of
national documentation specialists.
To improve soil and water management,
efforts continued to devel-
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