Call For Proposals

Improvement of Sustainable Food Production

STDF Targeted Calls

“TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP”

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1. Preamble:

Today's global population is about 6.5 billion and this number is expected to reach 8.5

billion by the year 2025. This situation simply means that our recent food crop production

must be increased by 30%-40%. In Egypt, like any other developing country in the arid and

semi arid regions of the world, the problem is more acute due to the dramatic and

continued increase in population,

dilemma. The problem is well-known, well-documented and necessitates taking a decisive

step towards increasing food production using the available national resources, research

capabilities and research results. The desired increment should be achieved with reduced

levels of agrochemicals, which are harmful for both health and environment and affect the

exportation of Egyptian agricultural products. Although no dramatic increase in crop

production is expected, as was the case in the beginning of the green revolution in the

early sixties, still there is room to increase food production in Egypt, through the

deployment of modern biotechnology to develop new food and feed crops in new lands;

the effective and better utilization of available natural genetic and water resources through

the development of low water demand crops and the introduction of new technologies; and

finally bridging yield gaps between the actual and potential production of strategic crops.

These strategies can be implemented in a reasonable timeframe through integrated

programs, which build on existing results and research capabilities at national research

institutions and universities.

scarcity of fresh water and current food shortage

2. Call Reference No.: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP

3. Call Name: Improvement of Sustainable Food Production

4. Call Description:

This call is based on the working document on agricultural research of the Higher Council

for Science and Technology and the foresight document on research in Egypt in 2030

developed by the Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), Egyptian Cabinet.

The main goal of the call is to employ available Egyptian capabilities, natural resources

and research facilities to tackle the problem of food shortage and to enhance the revenue

from food and non-food agricultural products. TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP is the first STDF

targeted call (TC) in the field of agricultural research. The call comprises three main subthematic

areas, namely the improvement of the productivity of cereal and low water

demand crops, the improvement of milk, red meat and fish production and

yield gaps between the actual and potential production of strategic food crops.

competitive call encourages integrated proposals with tangible outcomes and measurable

impacts on sustainable food production in Egypt.

narrowing theThis

5. Desired Outcomes:

1- Tangible improvement of food crop productivity through expansion of cultivated areas;

development of new breeds more tolerant to abiotic stresses and with low water

demand; and effective and better utilization of available water resources.

2-Improving the profitability of farmers and of associated agricultural businesses.

3- Economically feasible and applicable national know-how for fish production under fresh

and marine water conditions.

4- Maximizing the milk and meat production from native animals (Egyptian buffaloes,

camel and small ruminant).

5- Developing the research capabilities of Egypt in the call subject area.

6. Call subjects/topics:

1: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-1

Improvement of Abiotic Stress Tolerance

Abiotic stresses have been recognized as the most important targets of crop improvement

programs, and biotechnology has been identified as a powerful tool to achieve significant

drought tolerance by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. In Egypt,

salinity, drought and high temperature are major abiotic stresses which strongly reduce

crop productivity. The combination of inappropriate irrigation practices and high evapotranspiration

rates are largely responsible for extending soil/water salinity. To fight hunger

and malnutrition, new food crops, with improved nutritional quality, lower water demand

and higher tolerance to salt stress, drought and high temperature, must be developed to

replace the existing water consuming and salt sensitive ones. In addition to the

improvement of traditional strategic cereals, others such as barley, sorghum and

nontraditional food and feed crops must be evaluated, improved and introduced, as

potential cereal crops to face the problem of food shortage and expected climatic changes.

Due to the fact that Egypt is also suffering from great shortage in plant oils needed for

nutritional consumption (the gap is estimated to about 90% of our needs), the current call

also includes oil crops. The suggested research approaches to target the main goals of

this call include mining and evaluation of germplasm and nontraditional cereal using

physiological, biochemical and molecular tools, breeding and molecular breeding, gene

transfer and selection and induced mutations, i.e. any scientific approaches that prove to

be effective and can successfully solve the problem are welcomed.

1.1: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-1-1: Strategic Cereal Food Crops

1.2: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-1-2: New Nontraditional Food and Feed Crops

1.3: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-1-3: Oil Crops

1.4: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-1-4: Low Water Demand Crops (Date Palm, Fig and Olive)

2: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-2

Improvement of Animal Production

Although animal production (milk and red meat) in Egypt is highly dependent on cattle,

buffaloes, small ruminant (sheep and goats) and camels, which are the most suitable

animals for the dried and semi dried areas of our region, must also be considered. In 2007,

animal production in Egypt represented about 24.4% of the agricultural gross domestic

product. Milk productivity of buffaloes increased from about 1.15 ton/head/season to 1.4

ton/head/season, as a result of liberalizing animals from field work. Fortunately, there is

still large room to improve this milk and meat productivity through R & D.

2.1: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-2-1

Economic production of small ruminant and camels in newly reclaimed land under harsh

conditions

2.2: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-2-2

Egyptian buffaloes genome

2.3: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-2-3

Integrated organic farms for meat and milk production in new lands

2.4: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-2-4

Conservation of local farm animal genetic resources

3: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-3

Fishery and Aquaculture Production

Fish production is considered the cheapest source of animal protein. In spite of the fact

that Egypt has several fish resources and a water area of nearly 14 million feddans, yet the

local fish production is not enough to cover domestic consumption. Egypt imported about

215 thousand tons of fish in 2007, which represents 18% of total consumption. Also, a

remarkable increase in aquaculture production was reported as a result of increasing the

number of fish farms and the development of rearing and nutrition technologies.

3.1: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-3.1

Enhancing fish farming in saline and fresh water, lakes and sea shores

3.2: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-3.2

Biotechnological tools for the improvement of fish production

3.3: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-3.3

Integrated farms for fish production

3.4: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-3.

Husbandry of fish fingerlings & hatching marine fish

4: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-4

Bridging Yield Gaps between the Actual and Potential Production of

Strategic Food Crops

The application of knowledge generated through research during the last two decades has

resulted in increased productivity in various strategic crops. In spite of this dramatic

increment in farmer's fields, there is still a gap between crops productivity in Egypt,

worldwide productivity and crop productivity in demonstration fields under Egyptian

conditions. Therefore, the main objective of this research topic is to reduce the gap and

reach equality in strategic food crop productivity in framers’ fields as well as demonstration

fields through efficient and applicable technology transfer and application of research

results.

4.1: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-4.1

Develop optimal cultural practices for the developed cultivars in different geographical

zones.

4.2: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-4.2

Increase the net return per land and water unit through implementing the highest rate of

intensification.

4.3: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-4.3

Transferring the developed technologies to the framers

, field.

5: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-5

Efficient and Better Utilization of Water Resources

Due to the limited water resources, any expected increase in cultivated land and

consequently agricultural production in Egypt is attributed to the improved efficiency of

water use for agricultural purposes. Therefore, effective and better utilization of available

natural water resources is a must.

5.1: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-5.1

Development of high water holding capacity nanoparticles from local materials and wastes

for agricultural purposes.

5.2: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-5.2

New technologies for improving water use efficiency.

5.3: TC/3/ARP/2010/ISFP-5.

Development of irrigation systems and water management.

7. Eligible applicants:

Any Egyptian citizen who is affiliated to an Egyptian institution may apply as a principal

investigator (PI). For a non-Egyptian resident who is affiliated to an Egyptian institution,

he/she may apply as a PI but the deputy-PI or co-PI must be an Egyptian citizen.

Overall, at least 65% of the research team members must have Egyptian nationality.

General terms and conditions: (for detailed information

about the application procedures, see annexes A-C)

All research projects shall be evaluated on a competitive basis.

proposed work.

All proposals must include in addition to the scope, the benefits and costing of the

defined in this type of national targeted projects.

The cost structure should be suitable to the proposed scope. No preset limit is

General guidelines for preparing the proposals are available at the STDF website:

www.stdf.org.eg

encouraged. The benefit of partnerships should be highlighted in the proposal.

Teams of researchers, of academia and industry or of industrial partners are

9. Submission process:

All applications must be uploaded on the STDF website (

registration is required. The submission will be a two stage process, as follows:

The first stage: A preproposal is submitted (as detailed afterwards in annex A).

The second stage: The applicant principal investigators, whose preproposals were

selected in the first stage, will be asked to present their full proposals (as detailed

afterwards in annex B). A refresh course on the proposal application process [tips on

the smart design, the LFM form and the GANTT chart] will optionally be given to those

who passed the first stage shortly after announcement of the preproposal results.

www.stdf.org.eg) to which

10. Evaluation process:

The evaluation process will be executed by independent experts and the STDF will

assure that the process is transparent, impartial and researcher-supportive. Also, after

full proposal submission, the STDF officers may make field visits to assess the facility

preparedness for the proposed research.

11. Biosafety, Ethics and IPR considerations:

C.

please see Annex

12. Negotiation and contract signing:

Negotiation and grant contract agreement will come into force shortly after the

announcement of the second stage results. The intellectual property rights (IPR) will be

a core part of the process and will be followed according to the STDF IPR rules (as

detailed in the STDF website).

13. Important dates:

Deadline date for preproposal submission: 31/03/2010

Date of announcement of the accepted preproposals: 15/05/2010

Date of the refresh course on the full proposal application process: 10/06/2010

Deadline date for full proposal submission: 15/08/2010

Date of announcement of the accepted full proposals: 30/10/2010

Date for grant contract agreement: 30/11/201034

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Annex A

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Best regards ,
Dr. Amr Shams, Ph.D.,

Researcher, CIRD;

CIRD Focal Point;

Director, CIRD Web Site.

Work Address:

Crop Intensification Research Department (CIRD),

Field Crops Research Institute (FCRI),

Agricultural Research Center (ARC),

Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR),

Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE).

Mobile: +2 010 53 58 57 7

9 Cairo University Street, Giza 12619, Egypt.

thanks dr

Thank you Dr Amr for your efforts

Dr Zeinab Mohamed Abd El-Naby

Breeder of Berseem clover and alfalfa

Dept. of Forage Research Crops.

Inst. of Field Crops.

A. R. C.9 Gamma St., Pox No. 12619

E mail:zeina_bre@yahoo.com