The ark of the dry lands

Available for over a year

Researchers in Morocco are developing dry-land agriculture at ICARDA (the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas). It is home to a gene bank, in which around 150,000 different seed-types are kept in perfectly calibrated cold vaults, and duplicated to protect them from fire, earthquake and war. They are used for the creation of new varieties - such as wheat or lentils resistant to drought or disease, without pesticides. The gene bank is a public good - anyone, anywhere, can request seeds free of charge. Laaziza Atmani, head of the Al Amal women’s farming co-operative in the middle Atlas Mountains, uses ICARDA seeds and expertise to develop her couscous business. ‘Setting up the co-op changed our lives,’ she says. Some of the ICARDA seeds were collected originally in the 19th Century, at the dawn of genetic research. ‘Our oldest is a barley, collected in 1884, in Norway,’ says Zakaria Kehel, who takes care of the seed bank. Others are of wild varieties such as the ancestors of grain that grow freely in the "Fertile Crescent" of modern Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. These wild plants, or landraces, have been collected from mountains and roadsides over decades by scientists like Dr Ahmed Amri. Presenter: Aidan Tulloch Sound engineer: Mike Woolley Producer: Monica Whitlock A Storyscape production for BBC World Service