ACSAD: Development Projects in Syria, Iraq, Palestine

CAIRO- (ST) – Deliberations of the thirty-second session of the General Assembly of the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Areas and Dry Zones (ACSAD) started recently in Cairo with the participation of delegations from several Arab countries.

The Egyptian Minister of Agriculture Ayman Farid Abu Hadid, during the meeting, underlined that meeting the challenges and current climate changes require everyone to intervene to promote agricultural development in the Arab countries, seek to adopt effective agricultural policies to improve food security and the development of agricultural production. He also noted the role being played by ACSAD, which contributes to the development of natural and human resources and investing them optimally.

For his part, Director General of ACSAD Dr. Rafiq Ali Saleh explained in his speech that the center’s work plan in the past two years included 39 programs, 94 researches and academic projects, 66 training sessions and scientific meeting.

“The center also implemented 45 projects and activities that realize revenues of over $ 4 million, which reflects the growing confidence of Arab and International Finance Institutions and Arab Development Institutions in the work of the Arab Center and its scientific expertise,” Dr. Saleh said.

ACSAD, Dr. Saleh added, is continuous in developing new varieties of field crops, particularly cereals, as well as selecting varieties of fruit trees, appropriate and drought-tolerant pasture plants and keeping assets and genetic resources. The center also adopted the integral approach in the fight against desertification, rehabilitating degraded areas and the reduction of the sand dunes.

“ACSAD is also continuous in applying scientific research in the field of genetic improvement of livestock to increase their production and improve their varieties,” Dr. Saleh concluded.

The participating delegations discussed in the thirty-second session a number of reports on the achievements of the center and its work as a hose of expertise during the years 2012 and 2013 as well as notes on a number of major projects carried out by ACSAD. The projects included the development of palm trees in Syria , Saudi Arabia and Egypt, al -Hamad Basin in Iraq, which covers an area of 3.3 million hectares, the development of the production of camels in the Arab countries and technical support to the State of Palestine, and other topics relevant to the work of the Arab Center (ACSAD).

Sharif al -Khatib