Universities send experts to teach agriculture teachers

By MATTHEW WEAVER

Capital Press

Western extension educators are helping their counterparts in Iraq teach farmers to feed their nation as it rebuilds.

Steve Van Vleet, an extension educator at Washington State University, participated in an 18-day tour of Iraq. He returned the week of June 27.

The tour was part of the Iraq Agricultural Extension Revitalization Project spearheaded by the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University. Besides WSU, other universities involved include the University of California-Davis, Utah State University and New Mexico State University.

They are working with the Kurdistan regional government on a multiyear project to train extension educators in Iraq, said Kate Whitney, program coordinator.

The project will end in September. More than 30 training courses have taken place on technical subjects and extension methods.

WSU's Van Vleet was based in the Sulaymaniyah part of Kurdistan, which has a climate similar to the Pacific Northwest production zone, Van Vleet said. Farmers there grow soft white and durum wheat, garbanzo beans, lentils, potatoes, cucumbers and greenhouse crops.

The goal is to build agriculture to the point that Iraq is self-sufficient.

"The farmers really want to be able to market their product throughout all of Iraq," Van Vleet said.

The region, which borders Iran, is safe. Salaries for the extension program are supported by the Iraqi government, but supplies and facilities are limited.

"There's a lot of work to be done on how to keep their farmers actually farming and enhance and stimulate the farming community," he said. But "they have the potential to run a top-notch extension service."

Iraqi farmers are not able to compete against U.S. farmers, Van Vleet said, and he doesn't foresee that ever happening.

"There's just no way -- they don't have enough product to export outside of the country," he said. "It is just trying to feed the people throughout Iraq."

UC-Davis and New Mexico State University representatives recently led a course on harvest handling and marketing for Iraqi extension agents. In July, Utah State University representatives will follow up on previous training with a course on weather station maintenance. Texas A&M will host eight Iraqi faculty members in July and August to develop curriculum.

Whitney said the more the U.S. extension system can train Iraqi farmers and farm families, the better.

"We hope that by improving agriculture in Iraq we can build up the country, increase the number of jobs and ultimately build peace," she said. "The more stable Iraq is, it's good for us."

Online

The project at Washington State University: http://ip.wsu.edu/ird/projects/current/Iraq-IAER.html

Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture: http://borlaug.tamu.edu