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DSpace is a digital service that collects, preserves, and distributes digital material. Repositories are important tools for preserving an organization's legacy; they facilitate digital preservation and scholarly communication.

Recent Submissions

Improving Productivity and Farm Profitability of Major Staple Crops in Yemen through Good Agricultural Practices and Improved Varieties: Evidence from Participatory On-Farm Demonstrations
Author(s): Devkota Wasti, Mina Kumari; Al-Shamiri, Motahar; Attaher, Samar; Saif, Saeed; Ahmed, Yaseen Mohammed; Bagger, Asmae; Devkota, Krishna; Rekik, Mourad; Nangia, Vinay (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), 2026-09-01)
Date: 2026-09-01
Type: Internal Report
Status: Limited access
Across multiple districts and major staple crops, participatory on-farm demonstrations were implemented with farmers and local extension confirm that Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) can significantly improve productivity, farm profitability with resilience in conflict-affected areas in Yemen. The evaluation was conducted in 2025 summer season (July to November 2025) in two major food crops producing governates, i.e., Taiz and Lahj in Yemen. The evaluation included three treatment combinations: Existing farmer practice, GAP applied with farmers’ own/local varieties, and GAP combined with improved varieties. Overall, the result shows that GAP alone delivers major yield and economic gains, with substantial improvements over farmer practice by addressing common yield constraints such as sub-optimal plant population, untimely or poor water and weed management, and no/low fertilizer use, inefficient or blanket fertilizer application. Where feasible, incorporating major yield limiting factors (e.g., timely planting, maintaining proper plant population, precision fertilizer management, timely weed and insect pest management and limited supplemental irrigation during extreme dry spells) helped stabilize performance under variable rainfall. In most locations, GAP with farmers saved seed produced large, reliable increases in productivity (grain and biomass) and farm income, demonstrating that productivity and economic gains are achievable even without changing varieties—an important advantage in fragile contexts where access to certified seed may be limited. Adding improved varieties/seed on top of GAP consistently produced the highest outcomes, delivering additional productivity and economic gains beyond GAP alone and demonstrating the value of combining agronomy with seed-system support. Improvements were observed in all evaluated major cereals including maize, sorghum, millet and wheat, indicating broad applicability across farming systems. Biomass gains also suggest co-benefits for mixed crop–livestock households through improved fodder availability. Increase in profitability indicated that investment in precision fertilizer application, seed and timely crop management has economic benefits for the farmers. Taken together, the results provide strong, field-based proof that integrated packages Good Agriculture Practice + appropriate varieties can rapidly boost food production, improve farm income, reduce yield risk, and enhance resource-use efficiency. This approach offers a practical and scalable pathway for ICARDA and partners to support recovery and strengthen food security in conflict-affected areas through farmer-cantered demonstrations, extension engagement, and locally adapted innovation bundles.
ISBN vs ISSN: Which identifier do you need for your publication? A guidance document
Author(s): Jani, Sara; De Col, Valentina; Bonaiuti, Enrico (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), 2026-09-03)
Date: 2026-09-03
Type: Tool
Status: Open access
ICARDA publications are meant to be easily discoverable, accessible, and citable. Having the correct identifiers is essential, as they enhance discoverability and credibility, meet compliance standards, and simplify tracking within the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) platform and MELSpace, ICARDA’s public repository for approved knowledge products. For monographic publications like books and reports, researchers should request an International Standard Book Number (ISBN). In contrast, recurring series such as policy briefs, working papers, manuals, and newsletters require an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). Annual reports are unique and need both an ISSN for the series and an ISBN for that specific year’s volume. Before requesting any identifiers, researchers must ensure that their drafts are uploaded to MEL with the necessary core metadata. This guide clarifies which publications require ISBNs or ISSNs and provides step-by-step instructions for requesting these identifiers. The Communications and MEL teams are responsible for coordinating approvals and generating ISBNs and ISSNs. This guide serves as a resource for ICARDA staff, outlining which publications need specific identifiers and detailing the workflows for requests and approvals. The decision tree in Annex A will serve as a checklist and support navigating the workflow from the identifier request through to publication.
MELSpace & MELData: Metadata Access via OAI-PMH and API
Author(s): De Col, Valentina; Salem, Mohammad
Date: 2026-07-13
Type: Brief
Status: Open access
This brief document describes ICARDA's metadata access and harvesting services for its knowledge repositories, MELSpace (publications, based on DSpace) and MELData (datasets, based on Dataverse). It details Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) endpoints, supported metadata formats such as Simple Dublin Core (OAI_DC) and Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS), and Search Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) options for external systems to ingest metadata automatically.
Resilient food and nutrition security for Yemen through agricultural interventions and capacity building in the small ruminant dairy and agriculture sector (SURE-RESULTS): Final Report
Author(s): Rekik, Mourad (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), 2026-06-10)
Date: 2026-06-10
Type: Internal Report
Status: Timeless limited access
The Resilient Food and Nutrition Security for Yemen through Agricultural Interventions and Capacity Building in the Small Ruminant Dairy and Agriculture Sector (SURE-RESULTS) project was implemented by ICARDA across Abyan, Aden, Lahj, and Taiz governorates to strengthen food security, agricultural resilience, and livelihoods through interventions focused on the small ruminant dairy value chain and climate-smart agriculture.
Technology validation report for controlling RPW.
Author(s): Nejatian, Arash; ElShafie, Hamadttu
Date: 2026-08-06
Type: Internal Report
Status: Open access
Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, RPW) remains one of the most destructive pests of date palm production systems, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions where date palm is economically, culturally, and strategically important. The pest is difficult to control because its most damaging stages occur inside the palm trunk, where larvae feed internally and infestation symptoms often become visible only after significant damage has occurred. As a result, conventional control approaches based only on visual inspection or reactive treatment are often too late, costly, and insufficient. Effective RPW management therefore requires a technology-based, integrated, and preventive control strategy. No single technology can fully address the RPW challenge. Prevention, early detection, targeted treatment, sanitation, and removal of severely infested palms must be combined into a coordinated management package. This report assesses available and emerging technologies for RPW control and classifies them according to their function, technology readiness, deployment feasibility, and validation potential. The report builds on the technology profiling and prioritization work conducted for RPW infestation solutions. The source material identified and assessed technologies across the RPW control value chain, including prevention, detection, treatment, and revival/removal. The technologies were also classified by technology family, including digital, biotechnology, and material-based solutions. The prioritization spreadsheet further evaluates technologies according to effectiveness, environmental impact, infrastructure readiness, talent readiness, and financial feasibility, with separate sheets for TRL 1–6 and TRL 7–9 technologies. The purpose of this report is to translate the available technology profiling information into a practical technology assessment and validation framework. The report does not treat all technologies equally. That would be a bad decision-making approach. Instead, it separates technologies that are ready for field deployment from those that require controlled validation, pilot testing, or continued research. This distinction is critical for designing realistic RPW control programs, especially under UAE or GCC test-bed conditions.