Aly Abousabaa Director General ICARDA COP22 Session - November 16th 2016, Coping with Climate Change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region Meeting future food demand through SCIENCE & INNOVATION

1. Coping with Climate Change in the
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region
MEETING FUTURE FOOD DEMAND THROUGH
SCIENCE & INNOVATION
Aly Abousabaa
Director General ICARDA
November 16, 2016
Agricultural technological innovation in MENA in
the context of climate change: Are we up for the
challenge?

2. 1
Presentation Outline
• Todays challenges - tomorrows solutions
in the MENA
• Addressing the challenges in food security
through science
• Conding remarks

3. 2
1. Todays challenges tomorrows solutions – Socio-
economic
• Youth employment highest
in the world (24-29% in
males, 37-44% in females)
• 56% of population are
urban
• Water scarcity highest in
the world reduced
GDP
• Climate change expected
to reduce household
income by 7% over next
30-40 years.

4. Relative change of mean annual precipitation 1980/1999 to 2080/2099, scenario A1b, average of 21 GCMs
(compiled by GIS Unit ICARDA, based on partial maps in Christensen et al., 2007)
1. MENA is becoming hotter and dryer
1980/1999 to 2080/2099

5. Sources: adapted from USDA 2011
Global Trade: Net cereal imports (in million MT) by region, 2010
+91.2
+6.3
North America
Latin America and
the Caribbean
Sub-Saharan
Africa
-18.0
+17.5
Europe
-65.8
MENA
Region
+16.1
Former Soviet
Union
-58.8
Asia
Oceania
Net Exports
Net Imports
+
-
+18.6
1. Increased dependency on imports for food security

6. 5
• Urbanization increased wheat
in African diets.
• Heat stress in SSA is a major
constraint on wheat
production.
• Low yields restrict farmer
incomes increases countries
dependence on imports.
• Three decades of research
developed heat and drought
tolerant wheat varieties.
2. Climate-resilient Crops – Wheat for Africa

7. 6
• Introduction of high yielding,
heat tolerant, disease
resistant, and climate smart
wheat increased yields of 5
to 6 t ha-1 in farmers’ fields,
significantly higher than 1 to
2 t ha-1 average of traditional
varieties.
• Farmers and policy makers
working together to curb
increasing and unsustainable
wheat imports through
promotion of these varieties.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Reyna Norman Soonot-5
local check
heat tolerant
varieties
Yield performance of 3 newly released heat
tolentat varieties Vs local wheat In Nigeia
2. Climate-resilient Crops – Wheat for Africa

8. 2. Science and Technology – Learnings from MENA

9. 8
Raised bed combination planter (RBP) and furrow maker
 Reduce applied water by 30%
 Increase yields by 25%
 Reduce seed rate by 50%
 Increase WUE by 72%
 Scaling to 300,000 ha in Egypt (2yrs)
 Inexpensive machines locally manufactured
2. Managing severe water scarcity at the farm

10. FP: furrows irrigation FlP: flat bed irrigation RBP: raised bed irrigation

11. 10
Cactus cladodes and fruits as animal
feed
2. Crop-Livestock systems

12. The Vallerani for Rangelands (badia) rehabilitation
Water harvesting using
mechanized laser guided
contouring and re-
establishment of shrubs.
Water stored in soils and
aquifer
Improved grazing
management
2. Rehabilitating rangelands in the MENA Region
Improved productivity and combating
desertification

13. 2. Conservation agriculture (Zero Tillage)
 Introduced in North Africa, beginning in Morocco during the early
1980s.
 Areas under CA limited to about 6000 ha in Morocco, 12000 ha in
Tunisia, and 5500 ha in Algeria (2011)
 Why? Two major constraints: stubble/ residue management and
machinery costs

14. 2. Conservation agriculture
Stubble grazing, an old and
persisting practice in cereal-based
farming systems, poses a great
challenge to conservation
agriculture adoption in North Africa
Locally manufacture low-cost
ZT seed drills enusre scaling
CA technology in North
Africa.

15. 2. CA reduce water erosion
CA Reduce Soil Erosion by 50%
Moussadek et al. (2011), Canadian Journal of Soil Science
NT + 50 Residue
NT + no Residue
CT

16. 15
3. Concluding remarks
• Science and innovation will be
critical in meeting future food
and nutrition security in the
face of climate change.
• In a hotter and dryer world the
MENA region is well placed to
contribute Globally to building
the technological innovations
required for adaptation and
mitigation.
• AAA initiative is well placed to
be the conduit for
technological innovation into
Africa.