ACSAD is organizing an international meeting to discuss the climate risks on the Arab food security and the confrontation map
In the presence of the engineer Ali Abo Sebaa, the Director-General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas ICARDA, Dr Meachal Afram, the chairman of the ICARDA board of the trustees and the Agricultural Lebanese Research, and Dr Muhammad Suliaman, the head of the agricultural research centre headed by the Director-General of the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands, Dr Nasr Edin Obaid; and in the presence of the head of ACSAD’s Cairo Office and the head of the Egyptian Agricultural Engineers, Dr Sayed Khalifah, and the Deputy of Agricultural Research Center, Dr Shireen Asem. The Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands ACSAD held a meeting in its Office in Cairo to discuss the cooperation means among the three bodies in the developmental projects to address the climate risks on the agricultural sector and the means to limit these risks in the Arab region.
Dr Obaid praised through his speech to provide all the available potentials of ACSAD into the service of Arab food security to limit the climate risks on the agricultural sector in dry areas overwhelmed on vast areas from the lands that suffer from water scarcity.
During his speech, the ACSAD’s Director-General emphasized the importance of cooperation between the Arab, International, and regional organizations to serve the global development goals and develop the agricultural research through activating these applied research that deals with the expansion mechanisms in the projects of rainwater harvesting in the area. Moreover, apply conservation agriculture and produce the agricultural production inputs at the lowest costs to serve the sustainable development goals in the Arab area.
Dr Obaid expressed the readiness of the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands to host a meeting before the end of the current year include ACSAD’s experts as well as the ICARDA’s in cooperation with the official agricultural bodies in the Arab region to discuss the expansion mechanisms in the joint projects that serve the Arab agricultural sector in the marginalized areas and arid lands. The ACSAD’s Director-General also reviewed the success models of the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands in several Arab countries such as Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco, and Mauritania, especially in the field of the new varieties of Barley, Wheat, chickpea, and other legumes. In addition to the production of untraditional low-cost fodder to increase the yield of agriculture and protect farmers from climate risks.
Dr Obaid praised the cooperation between the ACSAD Center and the Ministries of Agriculture and Water in the Arab countries in considering that the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands is the model of the joint Arab action to make use of the available land and water resources in order to achieve sustainable development that reflexes positively on the Arab Food Security.
For his part, Dr Meachel Afram, the chairman of the ICARDA board of the trustees and the Agricultural Lebanese Researchaffirmed the ICARDA’s great desire to hold this meeting in the Syrian capital Damascus to activate this cooperation in the field of research between ACSAD, ICARDA, and the Agricultural Research Center in implementing research projects to raise the land and water resources efficiency to address climate challenges and make use of various varieties, and strains more tolerant to water scarcity challenges.
For his part, Dr Muhamad Sulaiman, the head of the Agricultural Research Center, praised ACSAD and ICARDA’s efforts in devising improved varieties of wheat and barley that are low-consuming to water high-productive, and more resilient to environmental conditions due to the massive climate changes.
The head of the Agriculture Research Centre noted the importance of intensifying the agricultural research in the current phase to devise either new varieties and strains of crops, livestock, or fisheries that can address the climate change risks and achieve Arab food security. He also showed that the coordination among the Arab, international, and regional Centers to accomplish those goals was one of the tools of the success of the applied research work to serve sustainable development.
For his part, the ICARDA’s Director-General, Engineer Ali Abo Sebaa, through his speech during the meeting, explained his support to participate in the field day is being held by the Agriculture Research Center in the presence of ACSAD and ICARDA’s experts in Suds research station in the Beni Suef province to review the joint research action results to devise Egyptian varieties tolerant to climate changes and high-productive; whether like legumes such as Beans, lentils and chickpeas or high- tolerant wheat strains to drought and low-consuming to water, with the participation of the international bodies.
Abo Sebaa pointed out the importance of inviting the international organizations, particularly ICARDA, as being an international scientific innovation Center in the fields of land and water uses in the arid areas; and the doner bodies to expand in rainwater-harvesting models in the Northern coast’s regions in Matrouh and Sinai, pointing out the importance of benefiting from mathematical modules to count and classify the groundwater and the safe limitations of water supply in the regions that depend on groundwater in irrigation like southern of Sinai.
The ICARDA’s Director-General indicated that the International Center for the Agricultural Research was ready to collaborate with acsad and the Agricultural Research Center immediately to apply those models at the beginning of the current winter season in the regions of Suds, Marsa Matruh, AND the southern of Sinai within the joint action system of the applied research to serve the agricultural sector.
