The Director of SACCAR, Dr Bruno Ndunguru recently attended a meeting organised by the International Program for Arid Land Crops (IPALAC) in Beer Sheva, Israel from the 31st March to 3rd April, 1997. The meeting discussed among other things the potential of plant biodiversity for rural development in drylands areas in Africa, and the IPALAC approach in semi-drylands areas. The IPALAC approach include the following proposed projects:
Date plams for the Sahel - to begin determining the potential role this arid land species can play South of the Sahara.
Domestication/improvement of underutilised species of the semi-arid and arid zones. The meeting was attended by various participants from the semi-arid zones in Africa. The meeting was attended by various participants from the semi-arid zones of Africa. They had an opportunity to visit the saline water irrigation research centre, desert fish prduction system, and the newly introduced fruit tree species.
The International Program for Arid Land Crops (IPALAC) has the following planned activities;
- A Conference "Dates for the Sahel"-Niamey, Niger, June 30 - July 3, 1997.
- A course on Rainfed Farming in Semi-Arid Zones to be offered at Central Zone Research Institute in Jodhpur, India, September 8-18, 1997.
For further information regarding the above courses, contact:
IPALAC The International Program for Arid Land Crops, c/o Ben-Gurion University of the Niger, Institute for Agriculture and Applied Biology, Tel: 972 7 6461971/2, Fax: 972 7 6472984
Copyright Chris Lungu, SACCAR, Private Bag 00108, Gaborone, Botswana email address: clungu@saccar.info.bw