Overview: The basic objective of agricultural research at ICARDA is to enhance pro ducer and consumer welfare through increasing the productivity, stability, and profitability of agriculture. Improved practices must be technically, ec onomically, and socially suitable to farmer conditions. The rainfed areas of West Asia and North Africa have highly variable environmental conditions as well as complex social and economic structures. In recent years, the region has been experiencing major changes in the relative availabilities and costs of the classical factors of production: land, labor, and
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