A review of the existing and potential role of legumes in farming systems of the Near East and North African region. Report for ICARDA
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Edward D. Carter. (1/3/1978). A review of the existing and potential role of legumes in farming systems of the Near East and North African region. Report for ICARDA. Beirut, Lebanon: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
Abstract
In the Region comprising of the Near East and North Africa, there has been
increasing concern at the deficit in food production which has occurred despite
the national agricultural development programs and the aid from bilateral and
multilateral agencies. Not only has there been a deficit in the production of
human food but also a rapidly-increasing deficit in livestock feed in most
countries of the Region. These deficits are the consequence of a rapid increase
in both human population and livestock numbers in the past 30 years.
Most Governments of the Region have recognized these agricultural problems
and taken steps to achieve national self-sufficiency in cereal production. This
has involved inter alia the improvement of cereal research programs. These
research and development aspirations in the Region have been greatly assisted by
the various projects of UNOP/FAO (especially the Regional Project on the Improvement
and Production of Field Food Crops), CIMMYT, The Rockefeller Foundation, 'the
Ford Foundation, USAIO, DANIDA, NORAD, SIOA, the French CCCE, and others. Though
there have been some spectacular improvements in cereal production in the Region
some of these advances have been at the expense of the pasture-livestock sector
which in most countries has been grossly neglected.
This report represents a broad appraisal of the existing crop
and livestock situation in the region and the opportunities for increasing both
cereal and livestock production.