Adoption and Economic Assessment of Improved Technologies in ICARDA’s Arabian Peninsula Regional Program_ Technical Report

Abstract

The scarcity of arable land and water have limited the growth of AP agriculture. With the limited potential for agriculture sector, optimizing use of these limited resources for technology transfer in agricultural development is one of the biggest challenges facing any decision-maker including the end users and growers. Thus, developing a sustainable and improved agriculture system would have a significant impact on helping these countries to shift their agricultural priorities from self-sufficiency to food security. The development program for the region known as Arabian Peninsula Regional Program (APRP) implemented by the International Center of Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) upon request from the APNational Research Systems is working since 1995, through developed and proven technologies, to improve the agriculture productivity and contribute to reduce the food production gap as the AP region, already among the largest food importers, is set to witness a significant growth in import of food products in the coming years. Several proven technologies and improved packages for the different production systems have proven their evidence at the research station such as protected agriculture and its associated techniques, irrigated forages, on-farm water management, spineless cactus and rangeland rehabilitation. However, some of these technologies are not widely adopted. While developing improved technologies is important for farmers in the rural livelihoods for this region, new technologies can only affect livelihoods positively if they are profitable and by then adopted by farmers. In the light of these challenges, this report attempts to provide a more or less clear picture of the economic valuation - the economic assessment is therefore a vital tool that can enumerate the potential costs and value the anticipated benefits of a proposed program on target group livelihoods, and the state of adoption of the ICARDA’s Arabian Peninsula Regional Program (APRP) promising technologies in rangeland rehabilitation, irrigated forages, soilless production system, integrated production and pest management systems, and on farm water management with special emphasis on the main factors affecting the adoption of these technologies.