CGIAR CAC Program

Rebuilding Syria’s agriculture starts with seed. 49 farmers are now producing certified wheat seed locally, reducing reliance on imports and restoring livelihoods. From kg to tons by 2027!

➡️ Read more:

Restoring Syria’s Seed Systems | ICARDA Rebuilding Syria’s agriculture starts with seed. ICARDA, FAO, and FCDO are restoring local seed systems, enabling farmers to produce certified, climate-resilient varieties and rebuild resilient, self-sustaining livelihoods.

International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA is advancing speed breeding to help deliver climate-resilient crops in years instead of decades. By controlling light, temperature, and growth conditions, scientists can accelerate multiple generations each year.

➡️ Read an insightful article "Crop breeding: Against the clock":

Crop breeding: Against the clock It is January in Srinagar. Outside, temperatures hover below freezing and fields lie fallow. Inside a research facility at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricult

Water scarcity does not affect everyone equally. In rural drylands, women bear a disproportionate share of the burden, an inequality intensified by climate change. Yet they are also central to the solution. Women’s knowledge of managing scarce water resources is critical to adaptation, and supporting their role strengthens both households and food systems. Inclusive, gender-transformative approaches are essential for building resilient communities.

In the fertile but water-scarce corridors of Qena and Minya, Egypt, the success of a harvest has traditionally been measured by what leaves the field. But for rural women, the real challenge begins right after the produce is picked. Without adequate technologies to preserve freshness, a significant share of their produce, and the water invested in growing it, is lost to heat and spoilage.

➡️ Read more:

Improving Women’s Livelihoods through Water-Smart Post-Harvest Innovation | ICARDA Discover how women in Egypt are improving livelihoods and water productivity through solar drying and post-harvest innovation, reducing food loss and strengthening climate resilience.

Through the ATSAF Junior Scientists Tandems (JST) scholarship, implemented in partnership with GIZ, Master’s student Ugonna Oboke contributed to our joint work in Uzbekistan under the FAO-led FOLUR Impact Program.

Focusing on rainwater harvesting and contour terracing in the Kashkadarya region, the research demonstrated how simple, time-tested land management practices can restore degraded landscapes, improve soil moisture retention, and support tree establishment in arid environments.

By combining field-based innovation with the Social-Ecological Systems approach, this work highlights the importance of integrating community perspectives with scientific solutions to strengthen climate resilience.

➡️ Read more:

Researching Rainwater Harvesting in Kashkadarya, Uzbekistan | ICARDA Research in Uzbekistan shows how rainwater harvesting and contour terracing improve water retention, support tree growth, and help restore degraded drylands, linking field practices with policy for climate resilience.

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA March newsletter is now published.

➡️ Read about our work last month and ongoing and future events: mailchi.mp/cgiar.org/marchnewsletter2026

📮 Subscribe to receive all future newsletter: icarda.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ce2c8df96d1615f6cc4b6d811&id=200b18e554

A Legacy in the Drylands
50 Years of International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA

➡️ Explore now:

A Legacy in the Drylands 50 Years of ICARDA | ICARDA ICARDA@50 marks 50 years of research breakthroughs in dryland agriculture, climate resilience, crop improvement, and sustainable livelihoods. Explore events, stories, and impact.

🌸 The ICARDA team extends its warmest congratulations to you on the joyous occasions of Navruz and Ramadan Hayit.

May these special celebrations bring peace, prosperity, and renewed hope to you and your loved ones. We wish you good health, happiness, and continued success.

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA February newsletter is now published.

➡️ Read about our work last month and ongoing and future events: mailchi.mp/cgiar.org/februarynewsletter

📮 Subscribe to receive all future newsletters: icarda.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ce2c8df96d1615f6cc4b6d811&id=200b18e554

🌸 On the eve of International Women’s Day, we warmly congratulate all women and celebrate your strength, leadership, and invaluable contributions to our communities and the world.

We wish you inspiration, success, confidence in your ideas, and new opportunities to achieve your goals. May your work continue to shape a more sustainable, inclusive, and prosperous future.

We also remind you that The Global Conference on Women in Agrifood Systems (GCWAS-2026) will be held in New Delhi, India, from 12–14 March 2026, under the theme “Driving Progress, Attaining New Heights.”

The conference will serve as a global platform for advancing dialogue, evidence, and action to strengthen the role of women across agrifood systems.

➡️ Join the conversation and be part of the movement empowering women in agrifood systems worldwide: events.cgiar.org/cgiaratglobalconferenceonwomen

Across the drylands where International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA works, Ramadan is widely observed as a month during which Muslims fast from dawn till dusk and gather each evening for iftar, the meal that breaks the fast. From Egypt to Morocco, Oman to the United Arab Emirates, and beyond, millions begin that meal with a date, a highly nutritious fruit that holds significant religious and cultural importance.

ICARDA’s technical team has worked closely with the farm workers, providing hands-on training on key practices, including inspecting individual palms, safely removing severely infested trees, and installing and monitoring the latest RPW trapping technologies. The bundle solution brings these elements together into a coordinated system, combining improved field management, monitoring tools, and capacity building to move from reactive control to early detection and prevention.

➡️ Read more:

Protecting the First Bite of Ramadan | ICARDA Across the drylands where ICARDA works, Ramadan is widely observed as a month during which Muslims fast from dawn till dusk and gather each evening for iftar, the meal that breaks the fast. From Egypt to Morocco, Oman to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and beyond, millions begin that meal with a dat...

The Directors General of International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA, and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT met on 13 Feb 2026 in Rabat, Morocco to bring together research capacities, co-design a transformative research and delivery agenda and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly drive innovation, scaling, and impact for legumes for food and feed across the world.

Responding to global challenges, including increasing climate pressures and shrinking traditional funding sources, bringing the two centers together will enable raising funds and building partnerships at scale. Together, both centers bring excellence in genetic diversity and discovery, as the custodians of the largest legume genebanks, advancing breeding and genetics through to delivery, including in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Building on these strengths, and challenging business as usual models, we are laying the foundation for a global legume effort — a future-food-focused, impact-oriented platform designed to accelerate the development and adoption of climate-resilient, biodiversity-protective, nutrition-rich, and market-relevant legume innovations.

➡️Read more:

Strengthening Global Research for a nutritious and secure food future | ICARDA The Directors General of ICARDA, and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT met on 13 Feb 2026 in Rabat, Morocco to bring together research capacities, co-design a transformative research and delivery agenda and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly drive innovation, scaling, an...

International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA’s seed collections carry adaptive traits developed over generations, including tolerance to drought, poor soils, and high temperatures. In dry regions facing compounded climate and socio-economic pressures, this genetic diversity is critical to sustaining agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods. Maintaining their value over time relies on the scientists and the systems they set up to conserve, document, and make this diversity accessible for use.

On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, ICARDA highlights the contributions of women scientists across our genebanks in Lebanon and Morocco, where plant genetic resources are safeguarded for research and breeding across the drylands and beyond.

➡️ Read more:

Women Scientists at the Heart of Genetic Diversity Conservation | ICARDA ICARDA’s seed collections carry adaptive traits developed over generations, including tolerance to drought, poor soils, and high temperatures. In dry regions facing compounded climate and socio-economic pressures, this genetic diversity is critical to sustaining agricultural productivity and rural...