At first glance Mrs. Hafida El Filahi, Mrs. Kenza Laghchaoud and Ms. Fatiha Rostan look no different from any other rural women in Morocco. They live in a far-away area called Bourrous in Rehamna Province, about 320 km from Morocco's capital of Rabat, and lead a mundane country lifestyle, looking after their households. But that is what appears on the surface. Unlike most of the rural women in the country, they are more independent and proactive in many ways. Above all, they enjoy a degree of financial independence and can support their families.

A joint research grant program by the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) and CRDF Global, launched in October 2016, is helping four Arab women scientists to conduct advanced research in collaboration with leading US scientists and thus realize their full potential.

Agriculture accounts for a large part of Egypt’s gross domestic product. In 2018 it contributed around 11.2 percent to the country’s economy, totaling some 13.2bn USD. As important as it is, however, the sector is still faced with many problems.

To accelerate agricultural research and development in the world’s marginal environments, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) and the BGI Group, the world's largest genomics research institution, have agreed to establish a dedicated, cutting-edge genomics center in the UAE.

The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) has launched a major project to improve food security and incomes of smallholder farmers, particularly women, in salt-affected areas of seven sub-Saharan African countries.

As part of its continued knowledge-sharing efforts, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) recently organized a four-day training course on integrated agri-aquaculture systems for desert environments for a diverse group of UAE-based researchers, extension staff and farmers.

Creating value chains for resilient, underutilized crops like quinoa, sorghum and Salicornia should form the cornerstone of food security and poverty reduction strategies in the face of climate change and other threats to agricultural production and rural livelihoods in member countries of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).

Dr. Merle Jensen, who in the 1960s pioneered biosaline agriculture in the UAE deserts, has visited the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) in Dubai to learn about the center’s research-for-development work in marginal environments.

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Dr. José Graziano da Silva, and Director General of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, signed two landmark agreements today, expanding existing cooperation between the two institutions on plant genetic resources, biosaline agriculture and climate change adaptation in the world’s marginal environments.

On the eve of International Women's Day, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and CGIAR Research Program on Wheat launched a call for applications for the first edition of the Arab Women Leaders in Agriculture (Awla) fellowship program for women researchers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.