Presented by Said Silim, ICARDA Country Manager, at the Africa RISING Annual Learning Event, ILRI, Addis Ababa, 24-26 September 2013

1. CGIAR Research Program
Dryland Systems
Said Silim
ICARDA, Country Manager
Africa RISING Annual Learning Event
ILRI, Addis Ababa, 24-26 September
2013

2. This presentation
• Drylands and dryland production systems
• Key challenges
• Program objectives
• Target regions
• Research themes
• Expected outcomes
• Partner institutions

3. Drylands
• Drylands cover about
41% of the earth’s land
area (~3 b Ha)
• Dry areas are home to
2.5 billion people
• About 16% of this
population lives in
chronic poverty.

4. Dryland production systems
• Complex combinations of locally adapted
crops, vegetables, livestock, rangelands, trees and fish
• Generally low in productivity and unable to meet the
growing demands
Production system Enterprises
Agro-pastoral
(19% land area)
Millet, sorghum, pulses, groundnut, maize,
trees Cattle, small ruminants
Pastoral
(40% land area)
Rangeland species; fodder trees & shrubs
Camels, cattle, sheep, goats
Rainfed mixed
(16% land area)
Sorghum, millet, pulses
(cowpea, chickpea, lentil, faba
bean), maize, wheat, groundnut, cassava, t
rees, Camels, cattle, sheep, goats

5. Key Challenges
• Highly variable precipitation and
temperatures
• Water scarcity
– Low and erratic rainfall
– Prolonged droughts
• Low inherent soil fertility
• Severe land degradation and
desertification
• Loss of biodiversity
• Number of socio-economic and
institutional constraints
• Lack of investment

6. Program Objectives
• Sustainable productivity growth and intensified
production systems at the farm and landscape levels
• More resilient dryland agro-ecosystems that can cope
with climate variation and change
• Less vulnerable and improved livelihoods of rural
communities in drylands
• Enhanced and equitable agricultural innovations
systems that link to policy and improve the impact of
research and development investments in dry areas

7. Target regions
• Areas/systems with the
deepest endemic poverty
and most vulnerable
populations, often
associated with severe
natural resource
degradation and extreme
environmental variability
• Systems with the greatest
potential for impact on
poverty in the short to
medium term

8. Research themes
• Approaches and models for
strengthening innovation systems
and linking knowledge to policy
action
• Reducing vulnerability and
managing risk
• Sustainable intensification for more
productive, profitable and
diversified dryland agriculture with
well-established linkages to markets
• Measuring impacts and cross-
regional synthesis

9. Target regions
• Areas/systems with the
deepest endemic poverty
and most vulnerable
populations, often
associated with severe
natural resource
degradation and extreme
environmental variability
• Systems with the greatest
potential for impact on
poverty in the short to
medium term

10. Expected outcomes
• Adoption and use innovation systems approaches
• Increased and better focused investment in drylands
• Integrated interventions that reduce
vulnerability, manage risk and improve resilience of
rural livelihoods
• Increased capacity to adapt to climate and other shocks
• Integrated management options that sustainably
intensify and diversify production systems
• Women and other disadvantaged groups benefit from
innovation processes that is based on equitable access
• Engagement in value-adding activities and new
agribusiness
• Increased investment in the dryland development

11. Program partners
• Bioversity International
• Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)
• Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP)
• International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry
Areas (ICARDA, the Lead Center)
• International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT)
• International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
• International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
• World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
• WorldFish Center
• Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Program (SSA-CP)