CRP1.1 Dryland Systems: Integrated and Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods in Dry Areas Regional Inception Workshop for North Africa & West Asia July 2-4, Golden Tulip Farah Hotel -Rabat, Morocco.

Working group 1 Sustainable Intensification/High potential areas

1. Characterization of the action sites Meknes SaïsNile Delta Karkheh river Basin MoroccoEgypt Iran

Target research intervention zones In Morocco, two intervention zones were selected based on the cropping system: -Zone of Aïn Jamaa (Wheat Intensification) - Zone of Nzalt Beni Ammar (Reconversion of wheat by Olive) In Iran and Egypt the selected zones are already identified

2. Problem statements in the action sites

Constraints in Moroccan site -Low soil fertility - Lack of diversification - Low input use - Post harvest loss - Low rate of agronomic packages adoption - market - Socio-economic constraints - Lack of economic scale -Land fragmentation -Low input/technical use -Lack of technical package - Market (value chain) - Product quality - Lack of labor -- Water quality Wheat based systemFruit tree system Vegetable based system

In Moroccan site Data on land use/land cover will be updated (p.92):

Constraints in Iranian site -Lack of proper agricultural machinery for all soil types and small farms - Low institutional capacity of farmers associations/aggregation - Lack of information on water productivity for no- tillage system in crop rotation - Lack of proper Water harvesting systems

Recommendations of Iranian team (p.130 and 133) 3.2 Soil problems posing serious management challenges Salinity (severity, soil types and % of area affected) [common in SRT2 areas, rare in SRT3 areas] SRT2: non-saline SRT3 (fresh area: non-saline) SRT3 (saline area: Azadegan plain: 90% saline) Sodicity (severity, soil types and % of area affected) SRT2: 5% SRT3:about 90% of Azadegan plain is saline sodic 4.2 Quality issues (e.g. waste water reuse) SRT2: Not issue SRT3: dS/m, highly saline shallow water table in Azadegan plain 6. Land degradation 6.1 Type and current severity of particular types of land degradation Salinization (severity, % of area affected) 4-8 dS/m 15 %, 8-16 dS/m 27%, dS/m 30%, above 32 dS/m 24% 6.2 Degradation trends Reclamation of salinized lands (% of area treated) None

3. Research hypotheses Hyp 1: Some form of farm aggregation (association/organized farmers groups) will lead to the realization of economies of size, thereby leading to increased access to input innovations, improved market efficiencies, competitiveness and value addition Hyp 2: retained Hyp 3: Water and land productivities in irrigated agriculture can sustainibly be increased through modified cropping patterns, salinity control, policy and institutionnal setups Hyp 4: retained Hyp 5: retained Hyp 6: System analysis of production, landscape and market system performance will allow optimal intensification of the production and market systems and the assessment of potential impact of innovations both in socio-economic and ecological terms

Divesification of cropping system Aggreggation 4. Major research outcomes