Dry Response

Agricultural research in the dry areas of Asia and North Africa considers the many ramifications of climate change in these vulnerable regions.

Climate change is a global problem, but some regions will be affected more than others — notably the dry areas of Central and West Asia and North Africa. Agriculture in these vast expanses is limited by a range of factors, including drought, land degradation, temperature extremes, pests and diseases. Climate change will aggravate each of these problems.

ICARDA is tackling the problem of land degradation and desertification by researching soil and water harvesting techniques and grazing management. Photo: CGIAR.

For over 30 years, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) has focused on dry areas and, in particular, on helping farmers cope with climate variability. ICARDA is now tackling climate change issues more broadly, with greater emphasis on adaptation, mitigation and ecosystem resilience. With drought becoming more frequent, it is important that countries respond proactively by integrating drought management into long-term development plans.

ICARDA was a partner in the European Union’s project Mediterranean Drought Preparedness and Mitigation Planning, which developed guidelines for managing drought risk using preparedness plans and early warning systems. Subsequently, ICARDA and its partners — the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and national research centers — established the Network on Drought Management for the Near East, Mediterranean and Central Asia, which enables institutions in 38 countries to work together on predicting and responding to drought.
 
Climate change creates multiple challenges, which ICARDA actively addresses.

Crop Resilience. More than 900 crop varieties developed using ICARDA breeding materials and adapted to dry areas have been released worldwide. ICARDA has developed cold-tolerant varieties of chickpea that can be planted in winter rather than spring. This allows the crop to escape terminal drought and minimizes the temperature effects of climate change. The Center has bred barley varieties that mature early without losing yield. It combines conventional breeding with biotechnology to improve wheat’s heat and drought tolerance, and a number of wheat varieties are now being tested in farmers’ fields.

Pests and Diseases. Past experience in dry, hot environments and new modeling methods help ICARDA scientists understand how climate change may affect the distribution or severity of pests and diseases. Higher temperatures will favor some insect pests, which are likely to expand their ranges. One example is the Hessian fly, a major pest of wheat. Until recently it was confined to North Africa. Now it is threatening wheat production in central and southern Europe and is expected to move further north.

Livestock. Climate change will likely cause significant livestock losses. As conditions change, it becomes ever more important to have breeds that can cope. Central and West Asia and North Africa have a very wide diversity of animal breeds, many of which tolerate temperature extremes and remain productive even on degraded rangeland. ICARDA and its partners help document this diversity to facilitate targeting breeds to specific environments and designing breeding programs. Additional research using phenotypic and molecular characterization helps identify adaptive traits that enable indigenous breeds to thrive under harsh conditions.

Water and Land Management. Climate change will restrict river flows and groundwater recharge, accelerating land degradation in dry areas. ICARDA and its partners have developed technologies such as supplemental irrigation, water harvesting and conservation agriculture that conserve water and increase the quantity of grain or biomass produced per unit of water used.

ICARDA research has found water productivity per cubic meter as high as 2.5 kilograms of wheat grain under supplemental irrigation, which is much higher than the 500 grams under rainfed conditions and 1 kilogram under full irrigation. It has quantified the benefits of combining supplemental irrigation, zero tillage and adapted cultivars. Crop models have been validated and used to better allocate water in irrigation basins.   

Climate change is likely to accelerate land degradation and desertification in many areas. ICARDA is tackling the problem through water harvesting, soil and water conservation techniques, and grazing management. Experiments have shown that 40-50% of the rainwater that would otherwise be lost as runoff or evaporation can be harvested and used to grow tree cash crops, restore biodiversity, and improve plant cover and forage availability in rangelands, as well as to reduce soil erosion.

Carbon Dioxide Modeling. The interaction of high carbon dioxide levels, high temperatures and water deficits is complex and not well understood, partly because it is difficult to study in the field. ICARDA uses simulation modeling to measure the effect of supplemental irrigation on wheat yield and water productivity under different carbon dioxide, temperature and rainfall scenarios.