Enhancing Food Security in Arab Countries (Phase II)

Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, Palestine, Yemen, Jordan

The project on “Enhancing Food Security in Arab Countries- phase II” focused primarily on improving wheat yield in wheat-based agricultural systems. It encompassed three main activities: (a) Dissemination of improved and proven technologies; (b) Applied research on improved technologies; and (c) Capacity building of national programs including training of young agricultural scientists. The approved activities were implemented in pilot sites selected in farmers’ fields and/or experimental stations managed by national research institutions. The sites covered the wheat production-based systems commonly practiced by farmers in the project countries and broadly categorized into: 1) Rainfed systems 2) Rainfed plus supplemental irrigation systems 3) Full irrigation systems The main results from phase I and II are highlighted below: • An average increase of wheat yields in demonstration sites of 27% and a maximum increase of 70% in demonstration sites during the initiative’s first phase (2011-2014). • An average increase of wheat yields in demonstration sites of 25% and a maximum increase of 61% during the initiative’s second phase (2015-2017). • In rainfed systems, the gains ranged from 0.27 to 0.6 tons per hectare in Phase I and from 0.33 to 0.98 tons per hectare in Phase II. The increase is far higher under irrigated systems. The maximum yield levels achieved in demonstration plots by some farmers clearly show that there exists large potential for further increasing wheat yields in the countries involved in the project. • In Morocco, the use of drip irrigation resulted in an improvement in water productivity of about 25% in Phase I and 14% in Phase II over the conventional basin irrigation system. • In Tunisia, during Phase II, farmers using the project recommended drip irrigation technology achieved 17% savings in irrigation water, 29% increase in yield and, therefore, a 42% increase in the yield per unit of irrigation water compared to sprinkler systems. • In Jordan, a total of 679 tons of seed of improved varieties were produced by farmers during 2015-2017. Just over half of the seed produced was used by the farmers for their own planting, 33 % was sold to the government to generate cash, and the remaining quantity was consumed in by the farm household. • In Palestine, four “Seed Production Groups” (SPGs) were established and were supplied with 19.5 tons of registered seed of improved durum wheat varieties. During the 2014–2017 period these SPGs produced more than 290 tons of certified seeds. The majority of this seed was marketed or/and used directly by farmers. • In Sudan, two outstanding farmers become major seed providers to their neighboring areas and other development schemes. During Phase II they added value to their products by processing the produced seed using a mini seed-processing unit provided to them by another ICARDA collaborative project. • In Yemen and Iraq, the project promoted seed production activities at the farmers’ level. • In Egypt by 2017 the total area devoted to raised-bed sown wheat is estimated at 125,000 ha – some 10% of Egypt’s total wheat area. • During Phase I and II more than 85,000 participants have benefited from a range of capacity building initiatives of which 70% were farmers. The majority of farmers participated through Farmer Field Schools and field days held at the demonstration sites in each country in addition to participating in travelling workshops and special symposia, and in the national project coordination meetings. At each site, demonstration plots were established with participating farmers to demonstrate benefits of the proven improved production technologies to neighboring farming communities. These pilot plots were also used to test and fine tune under farmers’ conditions the newly developed production technologies. the number of farmers who are influenced by the project’s activities from 175 in 2010 to 2,133 in 2017.