ICARDA at SIAM 2025: Driving Innovation and Partnerships for Resilient Agriculture

From April 21 to 27, 2025, the imperial city of Meknes became once again the epicenter of one of the largest agricultural fairs in Africa with over a million visitors, SIAM, held under the overarching theme “Agriculture and the Rural World: Water at the Heart of Sustainable Development.”

ICARDA's stand took center stage and attracted many visitors including high-level dignitaries such as the Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Environment of the UAE and the Minister of Agriculture of Italy, who showed keen interest in ICARDA's scalable innovations and commitment to driving sustainable agriculture and strengthening resilience in drylands.

The visitors gained first-hand understanding of our many innovations including the ultra-low energy dripper system developed in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the recently released faba bean variety resistant to Orobanche parasitic weed and the crowd favorite: the low-tech “do it yourself” vertical hydroponic system. They also discovered our new vision for resilient farming systems using rainwater harvesting and saw the positive impact of conservation agriculture on soil.

Throughout the week, our meeting space, “L’Agora pour la resilience” served as a platform for in-depth discussions and knowledge exchange, where short expert presentations were followed by strategic inputs from the many value-chain experts and policymakers who participated. Topics such as gene editing, agroecology and the Moroccan Collaborative Grants Program with CGIAR (MCGP) were discussed during those interactive sessions.

During the session “Meeting with the Moroccan Conservation Agriculture Association (AMAC)” the impressive progress made in the adoption of direct seeding in Morocco were discussed. Pr. Lamiae Ghaouti, Director of the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA) noted:

 "A giant step has already been taken, with 160,000 hectares converted to direct seeding thanks to the efforts of all stakeholders. I would like to congratulate all the teams involved in achieving this result. However, the road ahead is still long, while we have reached 160,000 hectares, we still need to convert more areas."

Dr. Rachid Moussadek, senior scientist at ICARDA-INRA, reiterated: 

"In four years only, we’ve gone from less than 20,000 hectares to 160,000 hectares. However, this is just the start. Our goal for next year is to reach 400,000 hectares. Achieving this goal requires a strong ecosystem of partners to ensure the success and sustainability of direct seeding."

To recognize the efforts of key actors, Mr. Mohsine Abdelhakim, President of AMAC (Association Marocaine de l’Agriculture de Conservation), awarded symbolic prizes to institutions and actors who are actively contributing to the ambitious goal of reaching 1 million hectares under direct seeding by 2030. Dr. Filippo Bassi, senior scientist representing ICARDA, was honored to receive this prize on behalf of the institution, recognizing ICARDA’s significant contribution to this collective effort.

During the session titled “Agroecology: Unlocking its Potential for Food Security and Climate Adaptation,” co-organized by INRA and Oxfam, in collaboration with the MountainHER, NATAE, and Wefe4MED projects, key actors gathered to explore the transformative role of agroecological practices in Morocco and beyond, particularly in the face of drought and climate change and to share their recent progress and to outline the path forward.

Dr. Nada Oussoulous from ICARDA presented the MountainHER project, an agroecological “farm-to-fork” food systems approach designed to empower women’s cooperatives in rural areas to become true drivers of social and economic change. This approach promotes the development of shorter value chains through a holistic intervention in six pilot mountain communities, supporting income-generating opportunities via localized value chains and circular economies.

“By linking production, processing, and local markets, MountainHER empowers rural women to lead sustainable change in their communities through agroecological practices and short value chains” said Dr. Nada Oussoulous, Project Assistant in the ICARDA Social Economy and Policy Research (SEP) team.

During another session, titled “Moroccan Collaborative Program with CGIAR (MCGP): 20 Years of Agricultural Innovation for Rural Development”, participants reflected on over four decades of fruitful collaboration between ICARDA and INRA. In the same line, Dr. Rachid Moussadek underscored the importance of ICARDA-INRA partnership, stating: “The joint projects have provided valuable experience that enables us to envision more ambitious initiatives today. We aim to build on past successes, integrating new approaches, and enhancing the effectiveness of our programs to support a more resilient agriculture”

Youth at the Forefront of Innovation

At the ICARDA-hosted event, ‘Young researchers at the heart of agricultural innovation in dry areas,’ Co-organized with the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), the Faculty of Science Rabat (UM5) and Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan-II (IAV), 7 young researchers presented their research, sharing their progress and findings from their ongoing PhD thesis work.

SIAM 2025 demonstrated the power of collaboration and partnership to foster collective reflection on the challenges and opportunities within the Moroccan agricultural sector. For ICARDA, the fair was not just an opportunity to showcase our science-driven solutions and advocate for dryland agriculture but to reaffirm our commitment to building climate-resilient food systems that empower smallholder farmers and strengthen their livelihoods.