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Technical Summary
What the project is about

Relevance
Ecological Agriculture in the Middle East

Cooperation
Working together in a troubled region

Sustainability
Water-saving crops of the future

Technical Objectives
See the plants

Evaluation
How the plants are doing

Project Map
See the sites

Format
Where and how

Current Status
Project timeline

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"Small Steps Towards Abundance: Crops for a More Sustainable Agriculture" on Amazon.com, or from the publisher.
Evaluation Relative to Formats

The crops will also be evaluated in relation to their formats, ie. agroforestry versus orchard format in Israel, agroforestry /irrigated/non irrigated versus orchard/ irrigated/ non irrigated.

Crop Candidates in Format

Crop Candidate Introduction Site Format Irrigation
Argania Israel Or/AgF Irrigated
Neem Morocco Or/AgF I/NI
Capers Israel Berm/trellis Irrigated
Mustard capers Morocco Berm/trellis I/NI
Carob Israel Or/AgF Irrigated
Cactus apple Morocco Or/AgF I/NI
Almond Israel Or/AgF Irrigated
Sapodilla Morocco Or/AgF I/NI
Marula Morocco Or/AgF I/NI
Indian dates Morocco Or/AgF I/NI


In this way, the most suitable format for a crop candidate may be found, with an eye to later integration into existing agricultural systems, and the start of new agricultural enterprises.

Evaluation of Germplasm - Last Stage

Argania nuts from Morocco

Third year evaluation of the germplasm will deal with the plants' overall success and adaptation. The germplasm will be surveyed with an eye to general health and vigor, amount of care required, inputs required, disease resistance, flowering and fruit set, reaction of local people to the crop candidates, and the products produced from them.

At the end of the third year it will be possible to know whether some of the crop candidates warrant further investigation with an eye to testing them on local farms. Other crop candidates will require a longer monitoring period, though all tree crops are expected to bear fruit before their fifth year, when a final evaluation should be possible.

After a crop candidate is evaluated and approved, germplasm and cultivation information may be disseminated at the farm level.

As of Apr 2005, the most promising crop candidates for introduction to arid and saline areas have proved to be Argania, Marula, Sapodilla, Capers, Neem, Zisiphus, Balanites, Mesquite, And Tamarugo. Some observation germ plasm is still too young to be evaluated, and some species were found to be unsuitable for this project.




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Contents ® 2000-2005 USAID/MERC except where noted. All rights reserved.
No part of the contents herein may be used or reproduced in any manner without written
permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
For more information on this project, contact Dr. Solowey elaine@desertagriculture.org