Central Asia and the Caucasus (CAC) is among five Regions worldwide where a global CGIAR Research Program “Integrated and Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods in Dry Areas” (CRP1.1 “Dryland Systems”) will be implemented. Participants of a three-day Regional Inception Workshop held on 12-14 June 2012 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, endorsed an ambitious research framework that will tackle the challenges of sustainable agricultural development under the harsh environmental conditions characterized by drought, high soil salinity and extreme climatic conditions.
The new Program will facilitate exchange of knowledge with other parts of the world, and enable the introduction, development and adoption of new, particularly water-use efficient technologies. It will also create an innovation platform, bringing together all relevant partner groups from research, government, universities, farmers’ associations, the private sector and an emerging civil society.
CRP1.1 “Dryland Systems” is the first large-scale research program to use an integrated agro-ecosystems approach to improve productivity and livelihoods in the dry areas. It aims to enhance food security for the rural poor and ensure environmental sustainability in dryland agro-ecosystems while enhancing social and gender-equitable development. It will focus on target dryland areas/systems, identified by two criteria: (i) those with the most vulnerable populations, and often associated with severe natural resource degradation; and (ii) those with the greatest potential to impact on food security in the short to medium term. In CAC, the first type is represented by the upper reaches of Amudarya river (Rasht Valley in Tajikistan and neighbouring Alay-Chong Alay district in Kyrgyzstan) and the lower reaches of Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers (Aral Sea Region stretching from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan). The fertile, trans-boundary Fergana Valley was chosen to represent the second type, with so-called satellite sites for future research also identified in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. The centrally-planned, large-scale efforts aimed at intensification of agricultural production in the former Soviet Union often led to natural resource degradation, which occurs to a varying degree in all three sites.
The Regional Inception Workshop was organized by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in partnership with other international agricultural research centers based in the CAC Region: the World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC), Bioversity International, International Potato Centre (CIP), International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). The workshop built on the groundwork carried out in the past months by an interim Interdisciplinary Research Team (iIRT), which collected and collated characterization data for all three Action Sites, prepared and formulated nine research-for-development hypotheses, and elaborated a draft set of log-frames with specific outputs, activities and milestones. The Workshop was opened by Prof. Sherali Nurmatov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan. In his welcome speech, he stressed the importance of improving the well-being of rural population in harsh arid areas through introducing sustainable livelihood options using innovations and state-of-the-art technologies in agricultural sector. He acknowledged the work that the consortium of international agricultural research centers has conducted in the Region since its establishment in 1998.
About 100 participants from the international centers, national research institutes and universities, farmers’ and community-based organisations, private sector and international development and donor agencies attended the Workshop. During the intense discussions in three working groups, the participants were able to identify and analyze evidence-based information required for the development of the Region-specific research agenda. They fine‐tuned and improved the research hypotheses, identified key additional elements of the log-frames and impact pathways thereby validating research sites, specific activities, and underpinning scientific approaches and methods. The participatory working environment led to a strong exchange of ideas with the aim of reaching consensus to move this program from inception into practical implementation. CRP1.1 will build its research agenda on a unique combination of multi-disciplinary agro-ecosystem approach with site-specific action relying on baseline creation and impact measurement.
The participants clearly stated their views helping to shape the CRP1.1 agenda in the CAC Region. With their contributions, the strategic framework for integrated research was set up and endorsed.