International Center for Biosaline Agriculture Prof Dr Faisal Taha Director of Technical Programs Presented at AIRCA Meeting, Rome March 1-2, 2012

ICBA’s Establishment ICBA was established in 1999 in strategic response to water situation Center’s purpose to investigate the potential for the use of saline groundwater and to share this knowledge widely

ICBA’s Founding Donors Islamic Development Bank Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development OPEC Fund for International Development UAE Government

ICBA’s Core Donor’s UAE Government Islamic Development Bank Ministry of Environment and Water Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi Islamic Development Bank

ICBA’s Project Donors The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi Ministry of Environment and Water, UAE IFAD The World Bank Asian Development Bank Sultanate of Oman Arab League - Cairo European Union CGIAR – Challenge Program USAID UNDP UNEP OPEC BADEA OFESD OASE KISR ACSAD

Programs Strategic Plan 2008-2012 comprises 3 programs: Integrated Water Resource System Program (IWRS) Marginal Quality Water Resources Program (MQ) Capacity Building and Knowledge-sharing Program (CK)

ICBA’s Key Research Activities and Project Types Technology generation and backstopping research (On-station research) PGR Plant Production and management systems Soil and Irrigation Technology transfer and Dissemination Regional (multilateral) Projects Bilateral Projects Host country/GCC projects Private sector partnership projects Capacity building & Knowledge sharing Networking

ICBA – Contributing to agricultural production through R & D on saline and marginal quality waters Identification of new and improved salt-tolerant germplasm (conventional crops and halophytes) to sustain ecosystem productivity Developing alternative production systems and technologies to improve productivity in marginalized environments Developing low-cost technologies for low-quality water-use by small scale farmers Promoting policies, legal and institutional framework for sustainable resource management Establishing stronger partnerships with NARS to test and adopt new technologies for ecosystem resilience

ICBA’s Countries of Operation MENA Region: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Qatar, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Yemen and Sudan SUB-SAHARA AFRICA : Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal ASIA Region: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh CAC Region: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan

Key Projects

Adaptation to climate change in WANA marginal environments through sustainable crop and livestock diversification The project approved for finance by IFAD AFESD, IDB, ICBA and NARS of 8 countries. The overall project goal is to improve the livelihoods, resiliency to climate changes and income of poor farmers relying on marginal water and land resources in WANA through the scaling-up and dissemination of high-yielding forage/crops production packages better adapted to the marginal environmental conditions.

Small-scale irrigation water management In partnership with FARA - West African Sub-Saharan Countries (Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal) The overall purpose of the project is to improve performance of small-scale irrigated systems to help in achieving (i) food security, (ii) dependable supply of basic agricultural products, and (iii) reduction in migration of rural communities to urban cities

Developing salinity strategic plan for Central Iraq region Donor: Australian Center for Agricultural Research (ACIAR) International R&D Centers: International Center for Biosaline Agriculture International Center of Agricultural Research in Dry Areas International Water Management Institute Australian Partners: CSIRO, AgWA Local Partners: Ministries of Science; Water; Higher Education; Environment Roadmap for the Study is based on: Assessment, Mitigation and Adaptation at three levels: - Regional level - Irrigation District level - Farm level

Development of National Strategy to Combat salinity and Protection of Water Resources from Pollution and Salinity in the Sultanate of Oman Modeling: Building of a conceptual model for Al-Batinah region which included: the extent of the aquifer system, aquifer properties (hydraulic conductivity, etc), groundwater inflow from hardrock (Jabal), recharge to the aquifer, outflow (abstraction, natural outflow to the sea), boundary conditions & the water balance for the study area (Al-Batinah) Models are being developed at the farm level to examine alternative cropping production systems & at national levels based on likely features driven by water management options.

Combating resource degradation in Central Asia and Caucasus Improper drainage systems severely affected agricultural production in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan Very dry or water logged conditions Salt accumulation on soil surface - Irrigated fields, once productive turned into degraded lands New Initiative Partnership with ICARDA, ICRISAT and NARS of three partner countries ICBA’s initiative to evaluate salt tolerant lines of sorghum and pearl millet for forage Seed production in partners countries for scaling-up Capacity building of NARS

Sorghum and pearl millet for enhanced crop-livestock productivity in saline lands A Joint ICBA-ICRISAT project in 6 countries (Syria, Jordan, Oman, Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen) supported by OFID, ICBA and NARS The first phase (Development of salinity-tolerant sorghum and pearl millet varieties for saline lands) was completed in 2009. Purpose: Develop and disseminate high-yielding, salinity-tolerant sorghum and pearl millet cultivars as well as crop management technologies for economic and sustainable crop-livestock (forage) production

Water Strategy for Conserving Water Resources in UAE Donor: Ministry of Environment and Water Partner (s): Ministry of Environment and Water An updated overview of the available water resources, uses and future forecasts Economic syntheses of the current water use and the best options to improve water use and allocation efficiency Eight initiatives that direct the Ministry of Environment and Water on implementing the UAE water conservation strategy Recommendations to strengthen the Federal policy, laws and sound water resources management

Collaboration with Farmers Services Center (FSC), Abu Dhabi FSC is an intermediary between the Abu Dhabi Government, specifically the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), and the farming community in Abu Dhabi Emirate. To evaluate the existing agriculture systems in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi, with special reference to crops, cropping patterns, irrigation systems, economics, marketing and others. To identify & recommend strategies for short-term improvement of current agricultural systems and long-term planning for sustainable agricultural production. To improve capacity building of farmers’ and extension services.

Capacity Building in biosaline agriculture 1000 individuals from 50 countries trained

Thank you