page_title: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A seed bank in the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, or ICARDA, site in Bekaa Valley holds around 40,000 seed samples — compared to 150,000 in Syria.
context_page_description: The International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas, a member of the CGIAR, supported by the CGIAR Fund, is a non-profit agricultural research institute that aims to improve the livelihoods of the resource-poor across the world's dry areas.
context_section_description: ICARDA has been temporarily headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, since leaving Aleppo, Syria in 2012. Support is provided by research centers and offices in Jordan, Morocco, Ethiopia, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Oman, Pakistan, Sudan, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
  Established in 1977, ICARDA's origins lie in a 1973 study that highlighted the food security challenges faced by countries across the dry regions of the Near East and North Africa. ICARDA research activities include the development of new crop varieties, water harvesting, conservation agriculture, the diversification of production systems, integrated crop/rangeland/livestock production systems, and the empowerment of rural women.
caption: A seed bank in the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, or ICARDA, site in Bekaa Valley holds around 40,000 seed samples — compared to 150,000 in Syria
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 7D Mark II", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.5.1 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2017:06:12 14:40:32", "Image ExifOffset": "218", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "856", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10751", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1250", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "1250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:06:06 13:26:20", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:06:06 13:26:20", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "4906891/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "11", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5472000/899", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3072000/599", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "204054000136", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[11, 16, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "11-16mm", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000000000"}