Agriculture and Natural Genetic Resources in Iraq Seminar Recommendations (held online)

Translated from the Arabic recommendations document; the original is available as a PDF.

On 13 February 2021, the Network of Iraqi Scientists Abroad held a seminar titled "Agriculture and Natural Genetic Resources in Iraq: History, Current Situation and Future Prospects" as part of this season's seminar series. It was presented by Professor Khidir W. Hilu with contributions from Professor Numan Jabbar and Dr Mahdi Al-Qaysi, and attended by a distinguished group of professors and researchers from Iraqi universities alongside others concerned with this vital economic sector. Drawing on the seminar's proceedings and discussions, the organising committee proposed the following recommendations:

1. Leverage the network's international relationships to create global opportunities for developing the capacities of agricultural-sector workers, through specialised courses and workshops, fellowships, and scientific cooperation with researchers and professors inside Iraq.
2. Support the Ministry of Agriculture's efforts to transfer and localise technology.
3. Maintain contact between network members and their counterparts inside Iraq to understand the obstacles facing the agricultural sector (both crop and livestock) and irrigation, and to work on solutions by priority.
4. Collect, document, preserve and utilise plant genetic resources for crop improvement, through traditional breeding methods and biotechnology.
5. Fund strategic agricultural research and development in agricultural colleges and institutes, with high-level researcher training, properly equipped research centres, and engagement with modern advances in agricultural science — including study leave abroad and participation in international conferences.
6. Encourage resettlement from cities back to the countryside through incentives: financial support, equipment and agricultural supplies, better living standards for farmers and their families, support for agro-industry, and protection from competing foreign products.
7. Encourage farmers to take part in selective agricultural trials in marginal desert areas that may prove suitable for cultivation — on the model of the Algerian desert oases that have become a "Garden of Eden" of food supply.