FS project - EFSAC - Support for Enhancement of Food Security in Arab Countries (Phase III)

Considerable successes have already been achieved in the first two phases of the project in increasing wheat productivity, water-saving technologies, awareness creation, technology scaling approaches and capacity development. On the other hand, it is commonly known that wider uptake and adoption by farmers and a significant impact on domestic food production requires a far longer time frame. Further consolidation of activities is needed to guarantee sustainability and significant impact on agricultural production. Given the differences between countries and the specificity of their agricultural production environments, further problem-solving adaptive research is needed, particularly under climate change conditions. In addition, the number of pilot sites established by the program is a valuable base that can be used to further extend and reach more farmers. Appropriate policies and support mechanisms, developed in partnership with national programs, are needed to enable the wider adoption of improved technologies by farmers. In this regard, the research design and interventions will carefully consider the whole value chain of the selected field crop commodities targeted by the project. This includes particularly assessing the scope of pre- and post-harvest losses along the value chain of wheat in selected countries.

The third phase of the project will build on the results achieved in the previous phases by verifying and fine-tuning recommended technology packages (wheat and food legume cultivars, agronomic and water management technologies), expanding the number of pilot sites to other agro-ecologies thereby out-scaling the technologies to more end-users, and strengthening the capacity of national research and extension systems to promote the technologies for wider adoption. The project Technical Committee at its annual meeting held a brainstorming session about the future of the project. Additional considerations that have been included in developing the third phase are: - The project has largely focused on the principal staple food crop, wheat. A more holistic view of food security is needed, including the beneficial role of food legumes when included in wheat-based production systems and their value for nutritional and feed security. The Arab world currently imports around 60% of its consumption of food legumes (chickpea, lentil and faba bean), which are a traditional staple food of the Arab people, irrespective of their incomes, and provides a valuable source of dietary protein. While some activities on food legumes were introduced in some countries in Phase II, it is proposed that food legume production technologies be fully integrated into the adaptive research agenda and the on-farm demonstrations. Other crops, such as barley, vetch, etc, could also be included depending on the specificity of the wheat-based production systems in each country. - A major focus of the project has been on the testing, verification, and selection of wheat varieties for the field demonstrations. A general concern has been the availability of seed, but it is also important that wheat varieties are better adapted to the local conditions and the prospects associated with climate change. This may require rethinking breeding objectives and strategies, and closer linkage to national and international breeding programs, such as those of CIMMYT and ICARDA. This would also necessitate the need to dig deeper in the gene pool of local landraces in order to tag and exploit traits that could help in adaptation to climate change and better resilience of the production systems to extreme abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, new pests and diseases and reduced water resources. In this context, the project will rely on the outputs of ICARDA research. - Human capacity-building is a critical component of the project, to respond to the urgent need to fill the shortage of competent research staff that is increasingly evident in several Arab countries with respect to field crop improvement. Specifically, with respect to training for national research program staff, it was proposed that the duration of training opportunities be designed to cover aspects that candidates may encounter in the course of their job in a national program while taking into consideration the specificity of the national prioritized needs and conditions.

A third phase of the project will build on the results achieved by verifying and fine-tuning recommended technology packages (wheat and food legume cultivars, agronomic and water management technologies), expanding the number of pilot sites to other agro-ecologies, thereby out-scaling the technologies to more end-users, and strengthening the capacity of national research and extension systems to promote the technologies for wider adoption.

In Phase III, the project involves ten countries, namely: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. The activities are extended to new sites, different from those used in Phase I and II and which are characterized by different constraints limiting the productivity of wheat-based production systems, and whenever possible, with an added focus on other crops for diversification and sustainability of the production system.

The longer-term impacts of the project are dependent on national governments implementing supportive policy and institutional measures that enable the further out-scaling and adoption of the improved technologies by farmers.

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In 2020, project activities were implemented in 28 pilot areas which represented the wheat-based production systems followed by local farmers of participating countries. More than 1,100 demonstrations were held in farmers’ fields covering various improved technologies for wheat and legume production; the results of which led to an increase in wheat yield - varying from 15 to 97% depending on the country and production system. The average increase across all countries was 30%. However the maximum average increase in any one country was 69%, indicating the potential that exists for further improvement in wheat yield across all countries.

The project’s capacity building activities were affected by COVID-19 in 2020 due to confinement and shutdowns. However, the National Agricultural Research Systems’ partners stepped up their efforts in implementing the planned capacity-building activities, while taking obligatory safety measures into account. Due to these efforts, more than 5,800 farmers benefited from field days and farmers’ field schools in the project countries.