“A workshop in ACSAD / “Development of Wheat Cultivation and Research in the Arab Countries.”
The Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands ACSAD has held today, at its headquarters in Damascus, and in the presence of the Excellency, the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Muhammad Hassan Qatana, a national workshop on developing research and wheat cultivation in the Arab Countries, in participating with Wheat and cereal experts from most of the Arab countries, the Arab Organization for Agriculture Development, the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas “ICARDA”, and the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture “ICBA.”
The Director-General of the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands ACSAD, Dr Nasr Edin Obaid, has said in a speech: “ This workshop comes within the increasing importance of Wheat for the Arab and global food security, the globally- increasing-price drastically of it, and the urgent need to develop wheat production and cultivation in the Arab countries due to the difficulty to reaching out the self-sufficient production, since the wheat production in the Arab Countries is about 25 million tons annually, which is not adequate to meet the consumption need that is about 70 million tons, and that is demanding to export about 40 million tons annually valued more than 10 billion Dollars. In light of the severe high price of Wheat lately, the exportation bill of Wheat will cost the Arab world more than 16 billion dollars annually in the future.
He has also pointed out that ACSAD Organization had successfully developed 77 varieties of Wheat and Barley of high productivity, tolerant to drought and environmental stresses, and resistant to diseases. Its cultivation has been generalized in the Arab Countries, some of which ACSAD’s wheat variety (1105) that its actual productivity has reached, in one of the fields in Syria the headquarters, to about 11 tons/hectare by providing it with the optimal services. And the ACSAD’s bread Wheat (1133) is one of the most globally-excellent varieties tolerant to “yellow Rust diseases” in the light of water shortage and climate changes.
ACSAD’s Director-General has also clarified that the ACSAD Organization prioritizes the development of wheat production and cultivation in the Arab Countries. He also has emphasized that this critical and distinguished scientific meeting with the vast participation at the Arab world level stood as an opportunity to bring together wheat specialists from various Arab countries to share experiences and research results and present the newest information on Wheat globally and at the Arab world level.
The three days-workshop, via videoconference, with the participation of more than two hundred experts, technicians and pilots in the field of Wheat and agricultural work, cover significant areas and multiple aspects related to cultivation, production, and economics of Wheat, and the most modern methods of breeding and devising new varieties that are of high productivity and tolerant to drought and rain shortage, and the relation of production to climate changes, which have become a reality in the Arab Countries and the globe. In addition to the most optimal means for Wheat services and care to achieve the highest productivity, the best qualitative characteristics, and the newest techniques, particularly the adoption of conservation agriculture, which depends on cultivating Wheat without tilling the ground that reduces production costs, increasing yield, and saves inputs. Moreover, it has also covered the Arab Countries representatives’ reports on the wheat situation in the Arab World. Thirty scientific papers were lectured by an elite from wheat specialists in ACSAD, Arab Countries, the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment, ICARDA, and ICBA.
This workshop also aims to review the Wheat situation globally and at the Arab world level in the current situation and future expectations and the critical difficulties that wheat production face in the Arab Countries and the world. In addition to the achievements of the Arab Center and other Arab and international research Centers from applied results that contribute to increasing Wheat production at the Arab level, which would reflect positively on the Arab Countries’ efforts to narrow the gap between production and consumption levels that are incremental year after another due to the high annual population increase.
