method. They characterize leaves as well as fruits. Researchers use only one criterion: the fruit. A farmer in Algeria has written an index classifying various parts of the date palm tree (Bakkay and Tirichine, 2005). Written in Amazigh and Arabic and published by the High Secretariat of Amazigh in Algiers, it will be translated into French. Such an index will be helpful in identifying the cultivars most resistant to diseases and in combining farmers' and researchers' knowledge. It will be a tool for setting up future biodiversity management programs in the Maghreb.

All parts of the date palm tree are used: leaves are used for building materials and sometimes to make tools for fishing (IPGRI, 2005). Fruits are classified according to their ripeness and are processed accordingly: some are dried and stored and some are eaten fresh (IPGRI, 2005). Date fruits are processed into different highly nutritive products (ICRA, 2003).

In arid areas and rangelands, farmers and village dwellers know the biology of many range species as well as their location according to topography and soil features. They know therefore where to take their flock to pasture according to the season.

Because the vegetal cover is degraded from the heavy pressure on range resources combined with climate change and other external factors-development of agriculture and introduction of new techniques like drilling-some species are threatened and pastoralism itself is declining. Local knowledge related to pastoralism is disappearing; young men no longer work as shepherds in rangeland areas but seek job opportunities in other areas or regions. Local knowledge on range species is not documented and will thus be lost.

In North Africa, farmers were growing local cultivars of cereals. The French occupiers developed national research systems at the beginning of the twentieth century to breed varieties or cultivars adapted to their needs. National research centers worked mostly on wheat that would produce flour suitable for bread making.

Cereal breeding went on even after the North African countries got their independence. At that time, research centers focused on producing high-yield varieties adapted to mechanized techniques, which have gradually replaced locally bred cultivars. Indigenous wheat cultivars are still grown in remote hilly areas where there is no mechanization. The plants are usually short and easy to mow manually. They are also resistant to fungi and disease. They are usually grown by resource-poor farmers.

Farmers over centuries have developed different cropping patterns for wheat to optimize production and manage risk. In area where rainfall is more than 500 mm, wheat density is quite high (more than 100 kg ha-1). In arid areas, farmers usually grow barley, not wheat, as it is more resistant to drought. Barley is grown for two purposes: farmers can get grain and it can be pastured-so they limit losses if it does not rain enough. Barley harvest is low (40 to 50 kg ha-1). If rainfall is not as high as expected, livestock pasture the barley crop.

Social equity and gender

New processes that are transforming the rural areas of CWANA and bringing women to the forefront of agricultural work are not directly reflected in adjustments to either the legal system or prevailing social habits. On the contrary, discriminatory gender practices in agriculture persist to date.

Capacity development

The region needs to develop its capacity in a number of areas. Higher agricultural education, irrigation water management and conservation and use of plant genetic resources can all play major roles in increasing food security, alleviating poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals in the region if capacity is adequately built.

The new challenge for universities in developing capacity is in agricultural education for sustainable rural development and for strengthening rural communities. Higher agricultural education has contributed to the growth and modernization of agricultural production. It has focused on professional development of those responsible for agriculture and rural development. Curriculum and management adjustments have not paralleled this growth (Atchoarena, 2006).

Interaction with the farmer and farmer organizations or with the private sector has not been a university priority. Participatory research has been negligible and therefore the effect of research results has been moderate. To maximize the benefits from research at institutions of higher agriculture education, agricultural information systems and transfer technology units need to be put in place and links made to national, regional and international systems.

Many research results can be transferred or extended, but the community is not presently benefiting from them because the resulting technology is not being transferred or made available to the beneficiaries and the stakeholders.

Agriculture is central to rural development and poverty alleviation. Unfortunately the ministries of agriculture in many regions have not been able to take an active role in developing national strategies for generating jobs, improving livelihoods and alleviating poverty. Human resources in this area are lacking, and neither the universities nor the national agricultural research centers have provided the expertise or initiated effective programs in this aspect.

The region lacks expertise in impact studies, and in monitoring and evaluation. Lack of this expertise has kept important emerging technologies or practices from being disseminated in the field.

Expertise on risk analysis and assessment and on national commitments and benefits from international agreements and conventions is also lacking. Cooperation among institutions of higher education in agriculture with international and regional agriculture centers and organizations will reduce the gap in these areas. There is a lack in institutionalization of the participatory and community-based research and technology dissemination approaches in universities and research institutions. There are no policies for strengthening public-private partnerships.

Large areas in the CWANA region suffer severely from poor water management; inefficient irrigation and drainage practices and technologies; lack of knowledge and knowhow on the part of farmers, farmer associations, and service providers; and institutional weaknesses. The problems in meeting growing water needs stem not only from water scarcity, but also from weak water-management capacity. With agriculture using a high percentage of the world's available water, improvement in capacity building at every level-from farmers to government-is required.

Genetic resources are important for food security. Since CWANA harbors a wealth of plant genetic resources, we are