In the 1920s, a Directorate General of Agriculture, affiliated to the Ministry of Economics and Transport, started agricultural research (AR) activities and established the first experimental stations at Abu Ghraib and Neinewah, a the Central Veterinary Laboratory, which focused its work on the diagnosis and control of pests and animal diseases.
In the 1940s, AR activities were covered by the Directorate General for Agricultural Research and Extension (DGARE) of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), with its headquarters at Abu Ghraib[7]. They were further strengthened upon the establishment of the College of Agriculture (created in 1952 by MOA) arid the College of Veterinary Medicine (1956), affiliated to the University of Baghdad.
In 1958, the Directorate General for Agricultural Research and Projects (DGAREJ) was established as the only body responsible for AR within MOA, except for the research on forestry assigned to the State Board of Forestry, in 1968, DGAREJ was terminated and AR came under the responsibility of four directorates concerned with agronomy, horticulture, animal resources, and plant protection and agricultural extension. During the 1970s, research activities were expanded as MOA established several specialized research stations and centres in different parts of the country.
This period also witnessed the establishment of the College of Agriculture and the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mosul University in 1964 and 1968, respectively, the College of Agriculture of Basrah in 1973, and the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) in 1967, endowed with an Agricultural and Biological Research Centre (later restructured into four specialized centres).
In 1980, MOA established the State Board for Applied Agricultural Research (SBAAR) to be responsible for all its AR activities. With the merging of MOA and the Ministry of Irrigation (MOI) in 1987, SBAAR integrated the Center for Water and Soil Resources (CWSR) and was renamed as the State Board for Agricultural Research and Water Resources (SBARWS). In 1990, SBARWS was terminated and replaced by the State Board for Agricultural Research (SBAR) and CWSR. When MOA and MOI separated again in 1993, SBAR remained within MOA and CWSR went to MOI.
Two Colleges of Agriculture were founded at Tikrit and Anbar in 1993 and 1994, respectively, and one College of Veterinary Medicine at Qadisia University in 1994.
In 1997 NARS was made up of three main categories of institutions:
The institutions specialized mainly in AR: the State Board for Agricultural Research (SBAR), affiliated in MOA, and the Centre for Water and Soil Research (CWSR) of the Ministry of Irrigation, which account together for 32% of the potential research years (pRYs: equivalent full-time researchers) of the NARS.
Five colleges of agriculture and three colleges of veterinary medicine supervised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR), which gather 49% of the pRYs of the NARS.
Other scientific and technical institutions for which AR is a secondary mandate (mainly the four AR-related centres of the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission), which account for 19% of the pRYs.
Officially, the MOA has the responsibility of the national AR policy, but in practice it shares it with other institutions and ministries involved in AR activities.
(i) The state board for agricultural research (SBAR). The SBAR is the largest national agricultural research (NARS) institution: it represents 26% of the potential research years of the NARS. Its main mandate is agricultural research which mobilizes about 75% of the time of its professional staff. Other activities cover community services (soil analysis, seed production, etc.), extension and training. The SBAR consists of six main agricultural divisions: agronomy, horticulture and forestry, date palms and tissue culture, soils, animal resources, and plant protection.
In 1997 SBAR had 638 national permanent full-time staff, of whom 266 are professional graduate staff who represent around 200 potential research years. The academic level of the graduate staff is rather low as a consequence of the salaries offered which were considerably lower than those paid to the university staff members. SBAR could not attract highly qualified researchers, and many researchers found their way to the universities; however, in 1995, salaries were increased in the range of 100-200%.
SBAR has 14 research stations that cover key agro-ecological zones (in irrigated and rain-fed areas). Infrastructure and equipment (offices; labs; libraries; scientific, computer, transport and communication facilities), are suffering from serious lack of maintenance, replacement or modernization. The problem of spare parts replacement is very acute.
Financial resources are funded mostly by the country (essentially by the Government, with some self income coming from sales of services/products and from research contracts funded by national development organizations). External grants are very limited. Operational and capital costs, which may represent 35% of the available resources, are far from covering the needs, and the SBAR scientific potential is, therefore, underemployed.
Research activities and linkages. Research activities include both crop and animal production. Within crop production, priority is given to cereals (wheat, rice, barley, corn) as they represent the main crops for human consumption. Attention is also given to industrial crops (cotton, sunflower) and horticultural crops. Research is also conducted on forestry, fisheries, agricultural economics, agricultural machinery, etc.
SBAR cooperates with CWSR through joint teams whenever necessary. Likewise, there is continuous cooperation between SBAR and the universities; its staff may deliver some lectures or take part in joint research programmes. International scientific cooperation is very limited.
(ii) The centre for water and soil research (CWSR). This Centre employs a total of 58 professional graduate staff members. It has faced the same comparatively low salaries as SBAR. Numbers of technicians and other support staff are insufficient.
Research activities mobilize around 75% of the graduate staffs time and cover: water consumptive use of crops, soil erosion and sediment transportation, use of saline water in irrigation and land reclamation, efficiency of irrigation systems, drainage performance, water pollution, soil survey, and soil management The Colleges of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine
The five colleges of agriculture and three colleges of veterinary medicine are supervised by their respective universities which are autonomous public institutions (each governed by a council of deans) supervised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR). These are:
The college of agriculture (CA), Baghdad university: It is the oldest CA, considered as the mother college of all agricultural institutes in Iraq, and the largest one, with 507 academic staff members (asm), including 1 88 PhD and 150 MS holders.
The college of agriculture and forestry, Mosul university (267 asm, 107 PhD and 124 MS holders).
The college of agriculture of Basrah university (189 asm, 44 PhD and 79 MS holders), Tikrit University (51 asm, 1 8 PhD and 19 MS holders), and Anbar University (46 asm, 11 PhD and 23 MS holders).
The college of veterinary medicine (CVM), Baghdad University, the oldest and largest CVM (293 asm, 91 PhD and 104 MS holders); and the CVMs of Mosul University (127 asm, 31 PhD and 54 MS holders) and Qadisia University (30 asm, 3 PhD and 12 MS holders).
The eight colleges employ a total of 1510 academic staff members (including 493 PhD, 467 MS and 550 138 holders). Their main mandate is teaching: all colleges grant BS degrees, while those of Baghdad, Mosul, and Basrah grant MS and PhD degrees as well. There are about 11,000 students enrolled in the eight colleges, which means a reasonable number of students per academic staff member (an average of 7.3). Other mandates cover research (see below) and extension, but the time and effort spent by university staff on extension is rather limited. Some coordination exists among the CAs and CVMs through quarterly meetings of their deans.
The CAs were founded in different regions of the country so as to solve the agricultural problems that may exist in these regions. For example, CA/Baghdad is mainly concerned with irrigated areas and horticulture, CAF/Mosul (northern part of Iraq) with cereal production in rain-fed areas, forestry and wood technology; CA/Tikrit with gypsies soil cultivation; and CA/Basrah with date palm research, horticulture and fisheries. All CAs and CVMs are concerned with animal husbandry.
The CAs and CVMs have high comparative advantages for AR activities: they enjoy a very large number of qualified academic staff in all disciplines and fields; they are able to mobilize for research strong graduate study programmes (243 and 296 students enrolled at the PhD and MS levels).
However, Agricultural research is constrained by several factors such as:
Most of the support resources (technicians, buildings, labs, farms) are devoted to education; specific research resources are very limited (few technicians, inadequate labs and scientific equipment, few vehicles, poor libraries, low and unstable funds).
The CAs and CVMs lack coherent research policies and research management systems.
Relations with national AR institutes and with farmers and extension workers are limited. Due to the sanctions, contacts and communication with the outside world have been very limited.
These factors have negatively affected research activities. However, since the adoption of the national strategy for agricultural research and transfer of technology in 1995 (see below), the situation has slightly improved. Academic staff members of the colleges are becoming active participants in national development programmes (cereals and legumes, cotton, corn, tomato, and rice) supervised by MOA. These activities strengthen university contacts with farmers and extension workers through research output that is formulated in extension material in collaboration with the MOA Directorate General of Agricultural Extension.
The Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC): The IAEC currently has four AR-related centres created recently from dividing its previous Agricultural and Biological Research Centre. These are the Agricultural Research Centre, the Fisheries Research Centre, the Seed Technology Centre, and the Biotechnology Centre. These Centres may account for about a quarter of the IAEC total professional staff members (392, including 43 PhD, 84 MS, 265 BS holders), which gives around 100 researchers working full-time on agronomy, horticulture, livestock, fisheries, natural resources, seed technology, biotechnology and other different cross-sectoral fields.
University units specialized in agriculture-related sciences - Apart from the agricultural colleges presented above, most universities have units specialized in agriculture-related sciences, such as breeding, pathology, entomology and microbiology in departments of plant/animal biology; soil and water in some faculties of sciences; food technology and agricultural mechanization in faculties of engineering; rural socioeconomics in faculties of economics; etc., with highly qualified academic staff members. Some universities or faculties have set up training/research departments or units to boost research in these domains; for example, the Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Baghdad University', and the Centre of Environment Beach Research, Mustanserieh University The agricultural divisions of the Polytechnic Institutes also fall in this category of institutions.
No precise inventory of this scientific potential has been made recently; however, according to the partial information available, these university units have at least some 200 "agricultural" scientists. Using the ratio or criterion applied to the agricultural colleges, these scientists may represent about 50 potential research years or 20 actual research years.
Some administrative units and public enterprises are or have been directly involved in AR through research - development units (stations, labs) or informal permanent or temporary research activities, such as the General Directorate of Irrigation Projects and Land Reclamation, Baghdad and the General Organization for Food Industries (headquarters in Baghdad), mentioned in the 1991 ISESCO inventory on the Islamic research centres.
(i) Human resources. The Iraqi NARS currently involves more than 2,100 scientific and technical graduate staff, all nationals, who represent 770 potential research years. The academic staff members of the agricultural colleges constitute the bulk of this potential; with a high academic level (33% are PhD holders). SBAR and CWSR researchers are much less in number and have a lower academic level (only 14% are PhD holders).
In general, the number and quality of technicians and other support staff are insufficient and may represent a serious limiting factor to the scientists' research productivity.
(ii) Financial and physical resources. Funding of research activities is mainly secured through government allocation for both public institutions and universities. Marginal funds come from self-earned sources such as research contracts with development organizations, consultancies to the private sector, and sales of agricultural production (seed, market production).
Under the sanctions, a high proportion of the available funds is allocated to salaries in all NARS institutions. In other words, very limited resources are available for operational and capital expenses. It is also impossible to purchase foreign equipment (scientific facilities, vehicles, etc.), books, journal subscriptions, etc., and current international cooperation is too limited for compensating this gap.
Accordingly, the NARS physical resources are deteriorating, and the large' human scientific potential built in the 1980s is currently highly underemployed: the NARS has only about 200 to 250 actual research years (including about 100 to 150 actual research years for the AR institutes, 40 for the colleges, and 60 for the other institutions) against the 770 potential research years mentioned above.
Research policy and orientation. The national strategy for agricultural research and transfer of technology, adopted in 1995, aimed to support the agricultural policy which focused on achieving: (i) food self-sufficiency through adoption of new, more productive technologies; (ii) sustainability of agricultural production in the long-run by insuring sound management and development of available agricultural resources, especially land and water; and (iii) social and economic equity between the agricultural sector and other sectors of the economy, and within the agricultural sector itself. This strategy is an important achievement for the NARS, especially for SBAR and IAEC. According to the strategy:
Research programmes should be mainly applied and/or adaptive in nature. They should (i) be multidisciplinary in their approach and represent a continuum starting from the generation of technologies through on-farm trials and demonstrations and the transfer of results to potential users; (ii) include socioeconomic components to ensure the economic soundness and acceptance of research outputs and recommendations by the potential users; and (iii) be oriented towards developing and adopting technologies, management practices and policies which address the problems and needs of the agricultural sector. Research programmes should give emphasis to the production system dimension consisting of four major thrusts: irrigated agriculture, rain-fed agriculture (above 450 mm), low rain-fed areas, and integrated livestock. The production systems are considered the umbrella under which the traditional commodity and non-commodity research programmes operate.
The strategy mandates all NARS institutions with applied research and transfer of technology activities, and with the responsibility of coordinating and supporting national AR programmes so that they can help in identification, testing, transfer and adoption of technical management and policy information contributing to the objectives of the national agricultural policy. Such mandates may have beneficial impact on research planning, priority setting and management of research programmes, and will help the scientists to conduct their research on the farm level and to be in direct contact with the farmer.
The strategy defines roles of the various institutions in order to achieve stronger interrelationships and complementarily among them, which is the proper way to address national issues under the constraints of limited financial and human resources due to the sanctions.
Until recently, linkages between the NARS institutions and the different ministries concerned with agricultural research were weak and consisted mainly of formal means, such as memberships in research councils and the participation of SBAR and IAEC members in committees of different research programmes at the universities and vice versa. But there was a substantial gap in the working linkages: research activities were undertaken by each institution without consultation with the others working in similar areas, this resulted in duplication of efforts and waste of time and resources. Linkages of the NARS institutions with extension/development organizations and with farmers were also insufficient.
These linkages have improved with the implementation of the national strategy for agricultural research and transfer of technology. Collaboration between SBAR and the colleges of agriculture is becoming stronger through the participation of university staff in conducting joint research activities and through holding of joint field days, seminars, and writing of joint publications. Relations with extension/development organizations and with farmers have grown through the national development programmes. The researchers in general (and to a much lesser extent the academic staff members of the colleges) have also become extension workers through conducting adaptive research with the farmers on the farms and transferring their research results to the farmers.
Due to the sanctions conditions, the Iraqi NARS has limited scientific international relations. The major current partners are ICARDA, ACSAD and FAO. Collaboration with ICARDA focuses on cereals, grain legumes, support services (documentation, computers), and multidisciplinary research-development programmes (Mashxeq/Maghreb Project, funded by IFAD) with a technology transfer dimension in line with the national strategy.
These factors have adversely and significantly affected agricultural research structure and activities in Iraq. Even earlier, negative policies were adopted (FAO. 2003b.). For instance in 1989, the GOI decided to shut down the Council of Scientific Research and its centres. Other research centres were neglected. Networks for irrigation, extension service and electric supply systems were ruined and the effectiveness of the research centres has seriously deteriorated and became almost non-functional. Most of the qualified staff at the research centres left the country and only staff with lower level of educational background and experience remained. The continued isolation of the country from the international community further affected the technical capabilities of the remaining staff. As a result, the agricultural research centres were unable to support neither applied nor adaptive research.
The linkages of research with other institutions and sub-sectors of agriculture were also negatively affected. The linkages of research with extension and training, which were critical in supporting technology transfer and dissemination, also declined. The practical linkages that existed between research centres and the university colleges of agriculture deteriorated; some of the colleges were even closed. Similarly, the linkages that existed between research and international organizations/institutions were limited. This situation had a serious effect on the research capability.
To overcome these constraints, efforts were carried out with FAO support under the Oil-for-Food Programme to enhance research in the northern Governorates. These initiatives included such activities as evaluation of the improved technology for transfer to farmers and establishing linkages between research and extension. The efforts also aimed at improving the limited professional capabilities of the personnel of the Regional Ministries of Agriculture and Irrigation at the three Governorates. Funds under the Oil-for-Food Programme were also utilized to revitalize and/or build-up the extension, training and research centres/field stations and their infrastructure to facilitate planning and implementation of the extension activities. The three Research Centres, (viz., Ainkawa (Erbil), Malta (Dohuk) and Bakrajo (Suleimaniyah), and some of their field stations were rehabilitated/renovated through the support provided. A new field station was established at Taq-Taq for Ainkawa Research Centre. Some essential equipment and tools were provided.
These efforts have resulted in positive results. Some new scientific staff, were added to the research centres especially at Ainkawa and Malta Research Centres. Also, specialization among the scientific staff was encouraged; and they have been allocated work responsibilities on different crops or sub-sectors.
Considering the limited academic qualification and experience of the research staff at different Research Centres, the Oil-for-Food Programme placed emphasis on providing training to the staff to upgrade their technical skills. This was provided by organizing training courses through FAO technical staff or through resident consultants employed through the Programme. Since Distribution Plan IV, a number of training courses were arranged by different research-related sub-sectors. These courses emphasized the basic needs of the research and technology transfer staff.
As could be appreciated, given the sanctions, wars and the old regions inappropriate policies, the three Research Centres had virtually no means to support agricultural research activities in terms of supplies and operations. Thus, the assistance from the Oil-for-Food Programme was crucial in providing such a support. The required support for research supplies, inputs and operations provided under the programme was crucial in carrying out certain research and technology transfer activities.
The needs of research and development were assessed for different sub-sectors through consultations of FAO technical staff and consultants with research staff, extension personnel, local authority's officials, and in some cases in collaboration with farmers. Later, assessments were carried out through introduction of Participatory Extension, Training and Research System (PETRAS) and Farmers' Field Schools (FFS). This approach resulted in increased understanding and appreciation of farmers' problems and priorities by scientists and extension personnel. This further helped in reorienting some of the research and technology transfer activities of the sub-sectors.
One of the major achievements of the research component for different sub-sectors under the Programme, with FAO technical assistance, has been to either develop the required technology or borrow and adapt the required technology from other places with similar agro-ecologies and environmental situations. The latter was found to be a sound approach considering the very limited local research capacity available for rehabilitation work. The borrowed technology was tested, adapted and adopted in the local environment. In addition some new concepts for agricultural research and technology transfer were also introduced, e.g. PETRAS and FFS. Both approaches proved to be effective.
A specific example of successful agricultural research activity under the Oil-for-Food Programme was that the Programme realizing that over-reliance on pesticides was not a sustainable approach for long-term management of pests and diseases, agricultural extension, training and research for plant protection initiated actions leading to a wide scale use of IPPM (Integrated Plant Production and Protection Management) strategies. IIPM emphasized agronomic strategies combined with mechanical, biological and chemical control methods to enhance sustainable, cost-effective and environmentally acceptable management of pests and diseases. Mechanical control measures such as collection of sunnpest, locusts and orobanche and deep ploughing against the soft scale were introduced. An IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Unit was established to reflect the importance being given to the management of serious pest with the least amount of pesticides. Similarly, introduction of the concept of "conservation agriculture" was relevant and appropriate for the low-organic matter soils and low-input rainfed agriculture (see earlier discussion on this approach in Chapter VII).
Traditionally, in Iraq linkages between research and extension have been weak; in fact both institutions have operated as separate entities. To address this issue, substantial efforts under the Oil-for-Food Programme were made to strengthen the linkages and to improve institutional, structural and functional interactions. Some positive results were realised in this regard. It is through PETRAS that the linkages were enhanced to improve programme planning, implementation, training, introducing better technologies to the farmers, and upgrading their knowledge and that of the extension personnel. This was also aimed at increasing the understanding of the scientists and managers of farmers' problems. Specific responsibilities and roles for each sub-component were agreed upon. Thus, it has been possible to: (i) provide technical support from research centres for carrying out on-farm demonstrations (Farmers Field Demonstrations), for technology dissemination to farmers, and for preparing teaching aids and information material to aid in technology dissemination, (ii) training of farmers, and (iii) complementing each other for carrying out adaptive trials on farmers' fields for technology transfer.
In addition, joint-research and extension staff-field visits have been carried out under the programme's initiative.
The linkages among sub-sectors were also essential to apply an integrated approach to problem solving research and technology transfer and to facilitate addressing and planning of research and development activities. Thus, with FAO assistance, and under joint extension and research efforts, an integrated programme approach was established to address farmers' problems using a multidisciplinary integrated approach to achieve the overall Programme objectives.
In addition, useful attempts were made to associate some relevant International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) such as International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) with the Programme activities. And as an example, with FAO collaboration and technical assistance, the Programme succeeded in obtaining some useful cereal (wheat and barley) and legume (chickpea and lentil) lines for testing in northern Iraq. Some of this material is now under large-scale multiplication for greater use in the region.
In the past, cooperative research programmes between the local universities and research institutions in Iraq and international research agencies, organizations (such as FAO) and bilateral government agencies, were established. However, the situation had seriously worsened during the civil unrest and the sanction period. The efforts made by the Oil-for-Food Programme with FAO's assistance and support were, therefore, essential in providing a basic structural support to the agricultural sector including the research component. Meanwhile, there is still a great potential for improving the existing agricultural research programmes and developing a stronger research system in the country.
The needs for technical support for strengthening research capacity could be grouped into the following major categories:[8]
improving research, technical and managerial capacity of the staff of LAs;
establishing an effective technical programme;
providing specialized technical assistance for the programme; and
developing a research strategy and an effective multi-disciplinary research programme.
To support and help generate a stronger research capacity with the view to creating a critical mass for carrying out the research and development needs of the agricultural sector, the following, inter alia, elements assume high priority:
- low-input rainfed agriculture;
- farmers' conditions and needs;
- existing farming systems;
- optimum resource allocation and agricultural production;
- food security including enhanced nutritional intake;
- status of research staff and programmes;
- availability of/access to the improved technology;
- provision for multi-location testing;
- needs of different research sub-sectors;
- possible expertise sources;
- sustaining active and direct involvement of the local staff; and
- ensuring operational expenses for programme's continuity.
It is also, important in the preparation of the action plan for enhancing agricultural research to address the following issues: (i) the extent to which the knowledge and skills of the research staff will be improved, (ii) how (whether by internal or external means) these capacities will be improved, (iii) how to sustain the active and direct involvement of the local staff in the research programmes, and (iv) how to ensure availability of inputs, equipments and operational expenses for the continuity of the research programmes and its staff (FAO. 2003b.).
The Iraqi national agricultural research system is made up of two main categories of institutions which have opposite features: the agricultural research institutes linked to the Ministries of Agriculture and Irrigation, and the agricultural colleges. In the agricultural resource institutes, the graduate research staff members have a relatively low academic level and are few in comparison with the large number of research activities to be carried out, but they enjoy the largest research facilities.
The colleges have a larger number of well-qualified academic staff with limited research physical resources. Traditionally, these two groups have maintained limited research collaboration and could not take advantage of their complementarily. This has led to a rather large waste of the national resources involved in agricultural research.
The sanctions have worsened the situation. In view of the low financial resources and the denied access to foreign goods, the NARS institutions have been suffering from an increasing underemployment and erosion of their scientific potential as well as a serious deterioration in their physical facilities.
On the other hand, the high priority given to agricultural development and the national strategy for agricultural research and transfer of technology adopted in 1995 offered some perspectives for agricultural resource in the country. This should lead to reinforcement of SBAR and CWSR, enhanced research involvement of the colleges, improved relations between these scientific institutions, and strengthened linkages with development organizations.
In view of the above, it could be concluded that work that has been initiated under the Oil-for-Food Programme, with FAO's support and technical assistance, for enhancing agricultural applied research, the adaptation and adoption of transferred technology and the substantial support to research facilities including enhancing its physical and human infrastructure, have had positive results. These efforts should, therefore, be further enhanced and followed-up.
In July/September 2001, FAO conducted a rural socio-economic survey[9] in the northern Governorates of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah. The main objective was to provide basic data, particularly on vulnerable rural households, and to enhance the design and implementation of FAO interventions in accordance with its mandate within the UN Inter-Agency Humanitarian Programme. Processing and analysis of data from a sample of 6437 households proceeded until September 2002. For consistency purposes, it was recommended that reported data should be used as background information can serve as a basis for developing the various sub-programmes for rehabilitation of the agricultural sector[10].
Based on the above sample analysis, it was noted that in the northern Governorates, more than half (57 percent) of the household heads are illiterate; and about 30 percent of sampled households are not sending their children to school. The main reasons included:
Lack of financial resources (20 percent of the cases).
Children assisting with farm work (33 percent); in addition to lack of secondary education facilities within the village (the average distance of secondary schools from the village is 9 km, in contrast to most of the primary schools which are located within the villages).
As for the heads of vulnerable households, 49 percent are illiterate, which is lower than the sample average of 57 percent. This could imply that rudimentary education of the household head alone may not be enough to lift the family out of vulnerability.
The high illiteracy rate, particularly among household heads that make or influence family decisions, has serious implications for the transfer/adoption of technologies and skills that might be needed to improve agricultural productivity and incomes.
As regards occupation, it was found that over 50 percent of the household heads in the northern Governorates are engaged in crop and livestock farming, with 25 percent practicing farming; only 4 percent livestock rearing; and 22 percent farming and livestock together. Farming is followed by four other occupations, namely soldiers/ policeman (8.5 percent), labourers (7.4 percent), housewives (6.3 percent) and Government service (6 percent).
A reasonable number of household members (25 percent) attended school. Twenty-two percent are taking care of other members of the households, 14 percent are engaged in farming and livestock raising, 3.2 percent are labourers, 2.8 percent are soldiers and 1.2 percent are civil servants. A few (8 percent) are engaged in other professions and about 7.4 percent are unemployed. As for vulnerable households, 9 percent of their members are unemployed. The rate is much higher for vulnerable women-headed households, 14 percent, (FAO. 2002a.).
Occupations of Houshold Members and Vulnerable Members in the Three Northern Governorates (%)
From the above analysis, it could be concluded that the agricultural sector is confronted with a number of constraints that should be taken into consideration for achieving the goal to assist the rural population (particularly the vulnerable groups) to improve agricultural production, raise their income and improve their livelihood in a sustainable manner. The main issues included:
a population of 195,045 households scattered over 4,750 villages;
high ratio of vulnerable households: 50 200 rural households (26 percent of the total) live under the vulnerability threshold defined in the FAO survey as equivalent to US$ 390);
high ratio of women-headed households among vulnerable groups (9 percent);
high ratio of youth reaching 44 percent of the population aged 14 years or less;
high illiteracy rate (57 percent) particularly among household heads who make and/or influence family decisions; and
over 50 percent of household heads engaged in agricultural production (crop and livestock farming).
Appreciating the above-mentioned serious impact of wars, civil strife, long period of sanctions and inappropriate policies of the previous regime, a number of constraints to agricultural extension and training took place. These constraints included:
Lack of an effective medium or long-term extension and training approach; major activities were planned on six-monthly basis according to the availability of funds.
Lack of qualified manpower with appropriate experience in agricultural extension and/or adult education; most of them were attracted by more remunerating activities in other sectors, NGOs or International Organizations.
Over-reliance on extension through mass media approach; field activities that motivate farmers to experience improved/innovative practices being kept to a minimum due to limited resources.
Low extension coverage rate e.g. one extension worker/840 households or one extension worker/6,000 ha of cultivated land.
Low operating budgets of extension staff in LAs; the bulk of the budget is allocated for salaries and construction;
Limited linkages with agricultural research and academic/formal education institutions.
Insufficient support to rural women intensively involved in farming and rural youth (in particular out-of-school children assisting in agricultural production).
Reliance on academic staff from universities for conducting training activities, who themselves were in need of upgrading of their knowledge to keep abreast of new development in the agricultural sector following the many years of isolation.
Limited level of application of basic adult education principles, methods and techniques by academic resource persons participating in the implementation of training activities.
These characteristics of beneficiaries and constraints are considered in the formulation of extension, training and research strategy and programme development being prepared with FAO technical assistance and support. The various target groups (men, women and youth) would participate intensively in extension activities especially-tailored to meet their specific needs and expectations. The technical content, messages and methods would be also designed to fit with their respective and particular requirements for a positive change in their knowledge, attitudes and practices.
In addition to the above initiatives on strategic formulation for extension, training and research, within the framework of the "Oil-for Food" Programme, FAO has carried out significant activities for renovation, construction and reactivation of the agricultural extension and training centres, research stations and district agricultural offices using DP IV and DP VIII budget allocations. Thus, efforts to improve the human as well as the physical infrastructures for extension, training and research have, indeed, been developing simultaneously.
The selection and use of extension methods depend on the purpose, technical content, nature of target beneficiaries and availability of resources.
The individual methods to assist a number of farmers on individual basis are time-consuming and need a high level of mobility. Such activities were, therefore, not widely spread. The focus was on a wide range of group and mass contact methods to meet the needs of different farmers taking into consideration the prevailing pattern of agricultural production systems in the region.
The group methods (e.g. field demonstrations, special-interest farmers' meetings and field days) supported by well designed and tested technical materials (posters, leaflets, booklets, video tapes, slide series, etc.) serve to improve knowledge, upgrade skills of the farmers and motivate them for positive change of attitudes towards better utilisation of improved agricultural and/or newly generated technologies. This method was, therefore, widely utilized for extension services under the Oil-for-Food Programme with FAO support and technical assistance.
The mass contact methods (mainly exhibitions, publications, radio and TV programmes) have been intended to raise public awareness of the target population and encourage them to seek more information. These methods were widely utilized under the Programme.
The right combination of methods, relevance of technical content and efficient use of appropriate channels of communication are being put in place with the view to leading to a higher adoption rate of the recommended technologies.
The FAO-recruited national staff (in particular field programme facilitators) in almost all sub-sectors and national staff in the Local Authorities received substantial training on different agricultural subject matters. Training was pragmatic and technically appropriate. FAO technical assistance ensured relevance and standard of the training activities.
The training programme has been designed in response to requests from the three Governorates with three main indicators: a list of subjects, duration, and a suggested number of trainees for each course.
The technical content has been provided, in the first place, by the respective FAO sub-sectors and the three faculties of agriculture (one in each Governorate), in addition to Baghdad and Missal Universities. The trainers were mainly experts from FAO, lecturers from Faculty staff and Subject Matter Specialists, SMSs from technical departments in LAs.
The training reference materials used in the courses included hand-outs and other published materials (leaflets and booklets produced by ETR for extension and training purposes). In addition, the audio-visuals included FAO-produced filmstrips and movie films, few slides and overhead transparencies. Training of national staff was, therefore, an important contribution to local capacity building at the local level. A similar approach, drawing on the lessons of experience learned in this initiative, should be prepared and introduced for the local agricultural staff in the rest of the country.
Staff training has been conducted in the rehabilitated training centres, universities and LAs premises. The average duration of training courses for technical staff has been around one week, at a time. The average number of participants has been about 22 in each course.
Under the Oil-for-Food Programme, farmers training was carried out through organizing and conducting two main types of training in northern Iraq: a "specialized" and a "regular" training programme. The specialized type has been conducted in FAO programme implementation areas where there were specific needs for farmers training on particular subjects such as: oil crops, vegetables, fruits, dairy, agro-industry, bee-keeping, forestry, range management, etc. This type of training has been conducted, with FAO technical assistance, for respective FAO sub-sectors, and in close consultation with LAs.
The subject of each course, location, duration and number of participants are identified jointly by the training experts (FAO expert, consultant, and/or a national expert supervised by FAO) and other sub-sectors FAO staff. In general, FAO experts design the course and it's technical content is delivered by Faculty of agriculture staff (from Baghdad and Missal Universities) or experts from LAs, and/or FAO experts.
The regular training programme covers topics related mainly to field crops and animal production. Based on farmers needs, this programme is prepared by ETR (Extension, Training and Research Sub-sector) in consultation with LAs. Training is conducted in the different villages of the 30 districts by the local extension staff in each Governorate, under the supervision of FAO-recruited national staff in ETR sub-sector. The training content is prepared and delivered by field extension staff, in consultation with Subject Matter Specialists (SMSs) in LAs and on the basis of the farmers needs during the particular cropping seasons. To ensure quality of training, FAO provides oversight, supervision and continuous technical assistance.
As regards future programmes, it is planned to boost extension outreach for the households. The extension message would be also adapted to effectively address the vulnerable groups' specific needs and aspiration.
During the last three years, FAO has carried out training activities to local personnel. It proceeded to local recruitment of some staff for programme implementation aiming at effective and efficient use of the distribution plans resources in meeting the increasing demands for support to the farming community. The training activities have been prepared periodically, on a six-monthly basis at the Governorate level.
Farmers training courses have been conducted by field extension staff using available premises of the community.
The average duration of training has been around one week for "specialised training" and 3 days for "regular training". The average number of participants has been about 30 farmers in each course. Farmers training, initially organised in district extension centres, is being decentralized to the village level to meet the rapidly increasing demand. Farmers training has proved to be effective and "good investment".
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[7] This section draws on the
material in the paper (ICARDA, FAO, AARINENA, CIHEAM. 1999.) It also relies upon
the working paper entitled "Technical Support for Research Capacity
Development", in the "Three-year Agricultural Programme in the Iraqi Northern
Governorates"; (FAO. 2003b.). Although the latter paper referred to the northern
Governorates, most of its views and recommendations are generic and could be
valid for the entire country. More specific recommendations on developing
agriculture research in Iraq will be further developed in the work planned to be
carried out by a multi-disciplinary team in the field as a follow-up to the
present report. [8] For details on the measures for strengthening agricultural research in the northern Governorates as examples for the rest of the country, see technical Annexes in the three-year programme for the northern Governorates, FAO, TCES, 2003 [9] FAO (2002) "Socio-economic survey of the Iraqi Northern Governorates of Dohuk, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah - A step towards Vulnerability Mitigation" - Report of the Co-ordination Office. [10] Given the significant changes in the country, there is an urgent need for conducting an up-to-date socio-economic survey for the agricultural sector in the entire country. |
