Knowledge Management Portal

This consultation workshop was organized by IWMI through its Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa in Cairo, jointly with ANAFIDE, the Moroccan National Committee for International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), and was held on December 20 and 21, 2022 at the FAIRMONT Rabat-Salé hotel. The ultimate objective of this workshop was to contribute to the development of the water reuse sector in Morocco through the initiation of a dialogue around investment options and the different financing possibilities for the treatment and water reuse for various agricultural activities and other purposes; as well as exploring various cost-benefit analysis approaches for an optimal set-up of treatment and sustainable reuse projects. The workshop falls within the framework of the CGIAR’s Regional Integrated Initiative F2R-CWANA WP 4, which is led by IWMI and works for better productivity and more sustainable integration between the Water, Agriculture, Energy and Territory systems. This is the attendance list.

Trends of degradation and improvement in biomass productivity in the target countries of MFS Initiative using Trends.Earth tool. The calculation of the trends using global time-series of NDVI (MODIS) over the 2000-2015 period. Appropriate uses of the results for supporting other activities in MFS Initiative, as well as further validation with national experts are discussed and recommended.

ICARDA scientists recently met with The Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) team of experts to discuss the potential of collaboration in research on pastoral systems and adaptation to address climate change impacts on rural farmers. The OSS initiates and facilitates partnerships on common challenges related to the management of shared water resources and the implementation of international agreements on desertification, biodiversity, and climate change in Africa. The meeting focused on adopting an innovative knowledge-sharing approach to take ICARDA's research to a higher policy level for advocacy, change and impact among dryland farmer communities. The two organizations can potentially speed up adaptation actions and measures to help modernize dryland pastoral systems while informing and improving the agricultural sector policies by growing and innovating knowledge management and exchange. In line with its research mandate, ICARDA partners with knowledge institutions such as OSS to support rural agro-pastoral farmers under climate pressures in Central, and West Asia, North Africa (CWANA), and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Through policy engagement, advocacy, dialogues, and scaling of proven technologies and methodologies, ICARDA aims to transform pastoralism systems towards climate change adaptation and resilience. This meeting is one of ICARDA's many activities implemented under the Livestock, Climate, and System Resilience (LCSR) Initiative, one of OneCGIAR 17 food systems transformation initiatives from its Global Research Portfolio. LCSR addresses the nexus of climate change impact and livestock production across Africa and Latin America. CGIAR researchers work with public and private actors across the globe to identify existing solutions and to co-create and deliver innovations that help producers, businesses, and governments adapt livestock agri-food systems to the impact of climate change while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In the Global South, livestock has strong empowerment potential for millions of women by providing protein-rich food for home consumption and sale, strengthening their role as stakeholders. However, in many rural communities, gender norms shape how household members manage and share livestock and their benefits, often in ways that disadvantage women and girls. For example, women graze small livestock species, while men own larger, more profitable animals. Cultural norms can also forbid women from farm labor and may limit their access to land and fodder, restricting their ability to develop their livestock holdings and farm independently. Dr. Dina Najjar, ICARDA’s Gender Scientist, has published a paper that explores women’s experiences with livestock-based livelihoods and technological innovations by studying 73 village cases from 13 countries. The study follows a gender empowerment framework that analyzes the recognition of women as livestock keepers, their access to resources and opportunities, and their ability to make decisions. The paper finds that improved livestock breeds and associated innovations, such as fodder choppers or training, provide women with significant benefits but may double their burden. Another challenge is that even if the local community recognizes women as livestock keepers, this recognition may not pass upward among external institutions. The study demonstrates that realizing livestock empowerment potential for women can constitute important avenues for their empowerment and is necessary for sustainable livestock development. But for this to happen, rural communities, and higher institutions such as NGOs and extension workers, must optimize gender-equitable opportunities, and development partners must design interventions that facilitate gender-transformative change.

Red Palm Weevil Eradication Project : Survey Instrument Tool Socioeconomic Impact Assessment of the Red Palm Weevil in NENA Countries (The Case of Egypt and Saudi Arabia). Ex-post impact assessment (impact evaluation of the proposed interventions)

While goats are an important pillar of livestock and agriculture sectors in East and Horn of Africa, little research is being published and access to unpublished data is very difficult. This working paper attempts to review the male and female reproductive characteristics of goats in 11 countries of East and Horn of Africa (Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda), and to summarize studies that have looked at the improvement of reproductive performance of goats, and applications of reproductive biotechnologies, such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer. A section of this paper is dedicated to reviewing the main diseases affecting the reproduction of goats, and analyzing prevalence and main risk factors. This working paper is a first step to fill a gap in knowledge related to reproduction in goats. The volume and quality of information between countries varied considerably, so there are some disproportions in reporting findings and results for certain traits.

This workshop is an expert consultation on the current status of groundwater resources for use in integrated aquaculture-agriculture and saline landscapes in new lands. The workshop was conducted at the WorldFish facility in Abbassa, with the remote participation of the F2R-CWANA leadership team. The number of participants in the workshop reached thirty. This is the presentation given by Initiative leads Michael Baum and Maha Al-Zu'bi.

Three combined investigations were carried out with the objectives of 1) estimating the genetic parameters and genetic trends for growth traits of Abera sheep in six breeder cooperatives established under community-based breeding programs (CBBPs); 2) participatory basis of comparison of breeding objectives and selection criteria of farmers from CBBPs and farmers from traditional sheep breeding practices; and 3) optimization of CBBPs of Abera sheep targets to increase genetic gain and economical profits with nine different breeding alternatives, considering number of candidate breeding ram and male to female sex ratio. A total of 2901 birth weight (BWT) 2626 weaning weight (WWT), 2261 six-months weight (SMWT) and 1603 yearling weights (YWT) records were collected between the year 2013 and 2019 were used for the analysis. General linear model consisting of the fixed effects of sex, breeder cooperative, season and birth type was used to analyze growth traits. As sheep in each CBBP is bred with by its own breeding ram, variance components and resulting genetic parameters were estimated, within each breeder cooperative, using univariate animal model based on restricted maximum likelihood method using WOMBAT software. Multivariate analysis was also employed to compute correlation estimates among growth traits. Six different models, by including or excluding maternal additive genetic effects, maternal permanent environmental effect, and covariance between direct-maternal additive genetic effects were fitted and the most appropriate model was selected based on a Log-Likelihood Ratio Test (LRT) and Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) were then used to select the most appropriate univariate model for each trait, which was finally used to estimate the studied parameters. Results indicated that all fixed effects influenced (P<0.05) the growth traits. The overall least squares means for BWT, WWT, SMWT and YWT were 2.9, 15.5, 20.8 and 27.9 kg, respectively. Based on the best fitted univariate model, the direct heritability (h2) for WWT and SMWT in the six breeder cooperatives were in the ranges of 0.12 to 0.38 and 0.20 to 0.49, respectively. Low to high (0.14 to 0.99) genetic correlations were observed for SMWT and other growth traits in all locations except negative association of SMWT with BWT and WWT in Abera Doko and Bonchesa Gobi communities. The WWT and SMWT showed positive genetic trends over the selection years in all breeder cooperatives/sites except Abera Doda breeder cooperative. Positive genetic progress was also achieved in most of the Abera sheep breeder cooperatives. Breeding objectives and selection criteria were defined using participatory own-flock ranking experiment and a structured questionnaire were under taken to assess sheep breeding practices of different sheep from community based breeding and traditional breeding practices of 3 sheep breed/type namely Doyogena, Abera and Dauwro from Sothern, Sidama and South-west regions of Ethiopia. Farmers selected purposively from community based breeding program (CBBP) and traditional breeding practices, accessibly and sheep production experience. A survey and own flock ranking experiment involving 300 households and 360 head of sheep were used. Data on size and appearance, lamb growth, lamb survival and reproduction traits were recorded for each ewe. From survey study, qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from flock ranking measurements and significant (p<0.05) variation was observed on rank, breed and membership of community based breeding program (CBBP) on body weight and most of studied traits including price of ewe. Farmers from both member of CBBP and non-member community breeding program emphasized traits on body size and appearance, reproduction and mothering ability and body condition as their breeding objective. A simulation study was conducted to optimize for genetic progress and profitability of Abera sheep CBBP based on candidate number and sex ratio. Six-month weight (kg) were identified as selection criteria trait, 9 breeding alternatives or schemes were simulated and evaluated for Abera Bongodo breeder village based on different candidate number and sex ratio. The annual genetic gain (AGG) for SMWT ranged from 0.06 to 0.16 kg, annual monetary genetic gain (AMGG) ranges $ 0.27 to 0.64 and discounted profit per ewe ranges $-0.04 to 1.87. Scheme 9 is recommended over all other schemes. So, shifting the current male to female ratio 1:9 to 1:27 (Scheme 9) with increased number of proved lambs for selection up to 150 maximized the genetic progress and profitability of the breeding program than the former breeding scenario in Abera sheep CBBP.