International Platform for Dryland Research and Education (IPDRE) Commemorative Special Seminar for the Tokyo International

Symposium

The Drylands: The challenge for the 21st Century

Aly Abousabaa, Director General ICARDA9th February, 2017

Japan

I. Introduction to ICARDAII. The challenges of the drylandsIII.Our workIV.Concluding remarks

Outline

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ICARDA

Our focus is on creating vibrant and prosperous rural communities in the drylands where men and women enjoy increased job opportunities and incomes in agriculture, better access to nutritious food and good health, and increased capacity to innovate, use and manage natural resources in an equitable and sustainable way.

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Global Drylands and CGIAR tropical and non-tropical drylands

29.33 million95.52 million

Area (km2)1.89 billion2.68 billion

Population

CIMMYTTexcocoMexico

CIATCaliColombia

CIPLimaPeru

IFPRIWashington D.C.USA

WARDAAfrica RiceBouakeIvory Coast

IITAIbadanNigeria World Agroforestry

NairobiKenya

ILRINairobiKenya

IWMIColomboSri Lanka

World FishPenangMalaysia

CIFORBogorIndonesia

IRRILos BanosPhilippines

Bioversity InternationalRomeItaly

ICARDAAleppo, SyriaBeirut, Lebanon

ICRISATHyderabadIndia

Where we work countries

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Globally there are challenges

The Challenges facing the Drylands

Physical water scarcity Rapid natural resource

degradation and desertification

Groundwater depletion Drought Salinity Climate change Poverty high levels of

unemployment.

-80

-70

-60

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006

mDecrease of the Souss aquifer level in Morocco

(compiled by GIS Unit ICARDA, based on partial maps in Christensen et al., 2007)

Relative change in mean annual precipitation 1980/1999 to 2080/2099

Decentralizing ICARDA’s GeneBank Activities

Taxon Accessions held in Syria

Morocco Lebanon Total unique accessions in 2016

Bread wheat 14,100 3487 5037 14639Durum wheat 19,635 4312 3655 20496Primitive wheat 912 459 124 954Aegilops 4057 120 3953 4774Wild Triticum 1584 116 2250 2079Barley 28,465 6007 5136 29981Wild Hordeum 1989 228 354 2324Chickpea 14,214 3326 2893 15195Wild Cicer 270 277 547Lentil 10,496 4618 335 13907Wild Lens 587 426 602Faba bean 9542 3397 10034Lathyrus 3996 1735 4277Pisum 6106 149 8893Medicago 8398 1321 5677Trifolium 4536 5088 6366Vicia 6144 637 6115Range and pasture 5802 2130 7166Others 219 211 225Total 141,052 22,673 39,108 154,251

Syria: Active and base collections

Second level Safety duplication at Svalbard

Safety duplication

Safety duplication

Lebanon: Collections of faba bean, Lathyrus, forage and range species and crop wild relatives

Morocco: Collections of cultivated species of barley, wheat, lentil and chickpea

Reducing the risk associated with being based in fragile states.

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Managing the Germplasm – FIGS Approach

• FIGS approach links traits, environments and associated selection pressures with genebank accessions

• ‘Focuses in’ on those accessions most likely to possess trait specific genetic variation.

0 50 100 150

010

2030

4050

60

Longitude

Latit

ude

Trait (disease score)Environment FIGS subsetwww.icarda.org/

10,000 accessions

200 accessions

Lentil 11876 + 587Chickpea 15046 + 270Faba bean 9993Lathyrus 4165

Link environmental data to collection sites

Adapted from D T F Endresen (NGB)

Choose accessions from environments where selection pressure exists for adaptive traits to stress e.g. drought, heat, salinity.

For diseases and pests, select material from environments that favor high pest populations

FIGS ApplicationFocusing on the ‘Best Bet’ Accessions

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Our Work: A climate smart crop for the future

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Biofortified lentils – reducing micronutrient deficiencies

• Five short duration varieties with high Fe, Zn and yield released in Bangladesh

• BARI M8 is released this year with high Fe and Zn content

• 186,000 ton micronutrient dense lentil produced from 145,600 ha

Parent Variety Yield t/ha % recurrent parent

Cham 6*2/SW2 1.6 147

Cham 6*2/SW2 1.5 138

Cham-6 1.10 100

Attila-7 1.3 -

Breeding Crops for Drought Tolerance and WUE

Example: Synthetic Wheat, tolerance to excessive drought

Yield of “synthetic derivatives” compared to parents under drought stress. (Tel Hadya -- 211 mm)

Indigenous breeds of small ruminants are highly adaptable to

changes in the environment

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Genetic diversity and structure of Ethiopian indigenous goat populations

Chinese goats Ethiopian indigenous goats

• 14 goat populations genotyped with 50K SNP Chip

• High genetic diversity (Expected and observed heterozygosity > 0.3)

• Ethiopian goats differ genetically from Chinese goats

Most genetically distinct populations(Kaffa and Abergelle)Getinet et al (under preparation)

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Meat and milk depend on reproduction Need to increase reproductive efficiency

… but using Clean, Green and Non Invasive practices

Ultrasound diagnosis as tool to manage sheep and goat reproduction

Reproduction technologies to increase reproductive efficiency of sheep and goats

Ultrasound Pregnancy Diagnosis

Screeningfor the number

of fetuses

Calculation of the age

of the fetuses

Culling ofSterile

Animals

Timely planning of conditions of birth and rational use of feed resources

Reproduction technologies for higher reproductive efficiency have these advantages

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Raised bed combination planter and furrow maker

Reduce applied water by 30% Increase yields by 25% Reduce seed rate by 50% Increase WUE by 72% 70,000 feddan adoption in Egypt (2yrs)

Managing severe water scarcity at the farm

FP: furrows irrigation FlP: flat bed irrigation RBP: raised bed irrigation

Supplemental irrigation (SI): Water productive

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Rainfed Fullirrigation

Supp.Irrigation

WP

Kg w

heat

grain

/m3

H2O

3.1

5.35.9 6.2

4.4

2

0.8 1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

rainfed Sowing SI Deficit SI Full SI

Grain yield (t/ha) Water productivity (Kg/m3)

• Limited water application to predominantly rain fed crops alleviates impact of drought spells

• Achieve high yields and water productivity especially with deficit irrigation

• Allow early sowing to avoid drought and frost and mitigate climate change impacts

The Vallerani for Rangelands (‘badia’) Rehabilitation Rainwater harvesting

using mechanized laser guided contouring to re-establish shrubs

Water stored in soils and aquifers

Improved grazing management

Rehabilitating Rangelands in the MENA Region

Improves productivity and combats desertification

Water Harvesting Techniques: improve significantly seedlings establishment and biomass and forage production

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2. Rehabilitation: Reseeding native species

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Attribute Outside the Musawar

Inside the Musawar(10 years)

Inside the Musawar(2 years)

Total plant cover 12.67 77.33 47Contribution of perennials 5.26 15.09 78.72Contribution of annuals 94.74 84.91 21.28

Total plant cover (%) and contribution of perennials and annuals species (%) inside and outside the musawar (fenced area) in Qatar.

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Fences are key in rehabilitating degraded.

Scarification + Direct Seeding

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Potential collaborative areas: ICARDA and Tottori University

Germplasm: pre breading - evaluation

Ecosystems restoration: Experiences between Asia and the Middle east

Water management: Modernizing systems - scarcity management

Watershed management: Complementarities in Ethiopia

Capacity building: MSC & JICA programs

Joint appointments: Already implemented .. Expanding

• The challenges facing the drylands are significant and require an integrated approach in addressing them;

• Climate change will be the driver of change – agriculture may not be possible in certain areas in the future;

• We can no longer neglect the drylands;

• There are clear opportunities where ICARDA and Tottori University can bring together their strengths to meet these challenges.

Concluding Remarks

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THANK YOU