The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) is an international agricultural research-for-development organization. ICARDA provides innovative, science-based solutions to countries and communities across the non-tropical dry areas, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing water, food, and nutritional security, and improving environmental health amid accelerating climate challenges.
Strategic Objectives & Alignment
- Core Mandate: Developing and delivering evidence-based agricultural innovations tailored to resource-poor smallholder farming communities in non-tropical drylands.
- Strategic Plan (2017–2026): Anchored on multi-stakeholder partnerships and translational research to ensure generated scientific knowledge is effectively deployed in the field.
- Global Goals Alignment: Closely aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on climate resilience, food security, sustainable water management, and terrestrial ecosystem conservation.
Primary Research & Climate Challenges
ICARDA focuses its scientific research on the pressing structural pressures confronting non-tropical dry environments:
- Rising Temperatures & Extreme Heat: Breeding climate-smart crop varieties resilient to thermal stress.
- Critical Water Scarcity: Developing water-harvesting systems, optimized irrigation technologies, and dryland conservation practices.
- Diminishing Natural Resources: Combating land degradation, soil depletion, and biodiversity loss through regenerative dryland farming systems.
- Food & Nutritional Insecurity: Strengthening the resilience and nutrient density of dryland staple crops and livestock systems.
- Socio-Economic Instability: Enhancing rural livelihoods and community stability across vulnerable dryland geographies.
Operating Model & Scientific Capacity
- Multidisciplinary Research Teams: Mobilizes an international corps of specialized scientists combining global technical expertise with in-depth local and regional knowledge.
- Collaborative Ecosystem: Partners extensively with National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), national governments, international development agencies, civil society, and change agents to scale field adoption.
- Knowledge Translation: Bridges laboratory and breeding advancements directly with agricultural extension systems, policy frameworks, and rural farming communities.
