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

2. 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

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

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

5. 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

6. 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)

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Key Projects

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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.

19. Capacity Building in biosaline agriculture
1000 individuals from 50 countries trained

20. Thank you