Ties that Bind: Libya and ICARDA

The ARC-Libya/ICARDA partnership started in the 1980s and was mainly within the context of the support to countries in the Maghreb Region. Mutual collaboration between Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and
Morocco was backed by ICARDA with technical expertise of its researchers, and facilitating donor support, and regional and international partnerships, aimed at development of improved technologies, germplasm and knowledge. This was done within the framework of ICARDA’s North Africa Regional Program.
Over the years, Libya has received large numbers of germplasm accessions, breeding lines and varieties
of wheat, barley, faba bean, lentil and chickpea that have proved useful in its breeding programs, as they were identified under a wide range of environmental stresses across North Africa. Conversely, Libya enabled the testing of germplasm from the other three countries under its harsh climatic conditions. Regional collaboration backed by ICARDA extended to various fields of human resource development for agricultural research. A large number of ARC-Libya researchers were trained in Morocco in conducting rapid rural appraisal research undertaken before the implementation of projects, and training in developing advanced animal nutrition technologies was carried out in Tunisia. Several other
examples can be cited in the field of agronomy, food technology, crop production systems, water harvesting, information management, and statistical data analysis techniques.
ICARDA sponsored several cereal and food legume traveling workshops to enable the mutual testing and evaluation of germplasm. These workshops also provided on-the-job training opportunities for the technical staff working on genetic improvement of important crops in Libya.