ICARDA Consolidates Cooperation with Yemen [Archives:1998/24/Business & Economy]

archive
June 15 1998

Established in 1977, the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA). It is one of the 16 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which is an international group of representatives of donor agencies, eminent agricultural scientists, and institutional administrators from developed and developing countries who guide and support its work. The CGIAR is co-sponsored by the World Bank, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
ICARDA’s research provides benefits for poverty alleviation through productivity improvements, integrated with sustainable natural resource management practices. Much of ICARDA’s research is carried out on a 948-hectare farm at its headquarters at Tel Hadya, about 35 km southwest of Aleppo, Syria.
Agriculture in Yemen
The agricultural sector in Yemen contributes about 20% to GDP. It has been growing at an average annual rate of just over 2%, not sufficient to keep pace with the population growth of 3.7%.
Agriculture has also been a traditional mainstay of employment in Yemen, although decreasing in historical terms. The proportion of the population engaged in agriculture fell from 80-90% in the 1970s to about 50% in the late 1990s.
 
A total of about 1.5 million hectares is under arable land and permanent crops. Additional areas of up to 2 million hectares are cultivated in marginal lands during high rainfall years. Rangelands cover a further 16 million hectares supporting almost seven million small ruminants.
About 75% of agricultural land is rain-fed. Cereals dominate and occupy about 60-80% of the cultivated area. The percentage contribution of different components to the agricultural sector are crops 74%, livestock 18%, fisheries 5% and forest 3%.
Yemen is one of the most water scarce countries in the world, and existing water supplies are being rapidly depleted by increasing demands from a growing population and an expanding agricultural sector. Agriculture utilizes nearly 85% of the water consumed. Ground water exploitation has proceeded unabated by rapidly exhausting the aquifers. It is estimated that in highlands, ground water is being mined at such a rate that large parts of the rural economy could disappear within a generation. Environmental degradation in the form of encroachment of sand dunes, soil erosion and abandonment of terraces and deforestation has also added to the problem.
Yemen & ICARDA
The partnership between Yemen and ICARDA dates back since ICARDA’s inception. Several Yemeni scientists and technicians underwent long and short-term training at ICARDA HQ in Aleppo. Until 1988, a total of 40 Yemeni scientists participated in various training courses on different disciplines such as plant breeding pathology, agronomy, weed control, socio-economics, farm management and seed production.
The partnership was later strengthened in 1988 when Yemen became a member of the ICARDA-implemented regional project for strengthening Barley and Wheat Research and Training in the Arabian Peninsula (APRP).
Yemen joined the Dry Land Resource Management project in ICARDA’s Farm Research Management program supported by the Ford Foundation and IDRC, in 1991. A case study on natural resource management was undertaken by AREA and the Faculty of Agriculture at Sanaa University with technical support from ICARDA scientists.
Current Projects & Activities
Since the signing of the Cooperative Agreement between Yemen and ICARDA, and the letter of understanding between AREA and ICARDA in 1995, several projects are now contributing to the agricultural development of Yemen. The principle objectives and major activities of these ongoing cooperative projects are summarized below.
1) Agricultural Sector Management Support Project
2) Nile Valley and Red Sea Regional Networks Project
3) Arabian Peninsula Regional Program
4) Dry Land Resource Management: Mountain Terrace Project (MTP)
5) Sustainable Environmental Management
6) Institutional Strengthening
Prof. Adel Al-Beltaji, Director General of ICARDA, is currently visiting Yemen. He talked to Dr. Salah Haddash, Yemen Times Managing Editor about ICARDA’s activities in Yemen.
Q: What is the purpose of your visit to Yemen?
A: We came to see officials and exchange ideas for a future relationship as well as the agricultural development in Yemen. We have a team working for ICARDA and they stay all the time in this country.
I met the Minister of Agriculture to discuss the outcome of ICARDA’s work in relation to agricultural research as well as the cooperation which we have with the agricultural research and development projects in Yemen.
Q: Could you tell us more about ICARDA?
A: ICARDA has a global mandate to work in the dry areas worldwide. We are responsible for developing wheat, chickpea and lentil crops, etc. Also we are globally responsible for self-sufficiency in dry areas worldwide and the management of their nature reserves.
We have 42 scientists from all over the world, working with two regional programs: North Africa and the Nile and the Red Sea area, which includes Yemen. We have another program called Arabian Peninsula, which also includes Yemen. Although its headquarters are in Dubai, they meet frequently and Yemen is strongly represented.
Q: What are the main agricultural issues of concern to ICARDA?
A: The agricultural sector is very important to the Yemeni national income. We are concerned with the problem of water scarcity and natural resource management. It is crucial to know how to optimize the return of one cubic meter of water. We need to adopt, acquire and use advanced methods.
We are keen that the national system will push agricultural development as we are only a precursor international center. We work with the national system, which will have to enhance agricultural development. It means that there is a technology transfer and human capability building.
Q: Our ancestors seem to have been more in harmony with their environment. How can we retrieve that harmony?
A: If we go back to our ancestors’ time, who roamed freely in the land, they respected and lived in harmony with the environment. But nowadays we have over population.
How to make people graze their animals and not cause over-grazing and desertification? Our grandfathers used to do this because they knew the capacity of a particular range area, and they did not exceed it.
There were rules that if you cut a tree the tribes will punish you, but now everything has changed. There are dry areas everywhere now. We are trying to acquire knowledge which will enable us to properly and sustainably use the water which is God given. It is very important, it will vanish if over exploited by man-made mistakes in the management of natural resources.
Q: How do you evaluate ICARDA achievements in Yemen so far?
A: My colleagues and other international officials who work here are satisfied with the achievements. We developed an agricultural strategy to cater for the needs of agriculture in Yemen. A lot of steps need to be taken in order to carry out this strategy.
It is important to deliver ICARDA knowledge and expertise to local colleagues. Training goes up to 6 months or even a year on all sorts of agricultural aspects.
We have to strengthen the agricultural economy, and to have a higher percentage of contribution for the national economy. We are hoping to achieve this with great support and assistance by the national system to meet the challenge.
There is a sense of urgency, which has to come from the government and local authorities. What we are after really is the people involvement in agricultural development.
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