News & Events

 

FAO EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES 2010

 

ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION SYSTEMS TRAINING

FAO Training Workshop for Iraqi Experts from the MoA on Animal Identification and Registration Systems (January 18-22, 2010)

FAO-Iraq is conducting a training workshop on Animal Identification and Registration Systems in Iraq from January 18 to 22, 2010. The objective of this workshop is to enhance the capacity of MoA staff to develop the animal identification and registration systems in Iraq. This workshop will be attended by 15 experts from the Ministry of Agriculture in Iraq. To encourage the exchange of animal identification and registration methods in the region, experts from Palestine and Jordan will also attend. The training workshops will be facilitated by lecturers from Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Germany and FAO.

This workshop comes at a crucial time in Iraq. With the recurrence and spread of transboundary disease such as Foot and Mouth Disease, the identification and registration of livestock has become incredibly important to mitigate the loss of livestock, and most importantly, protect human health. This workshop will provide experts with knowledge of the latest techniques in animal identification and registration which they can take back to colleagues in their respective departments in the MoA and utilize to implement sustainable and effective strategies.

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FAO EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES 2009

 

WORLD SUMMIT ON FOOD SECURITY

Please note that in addition to the local radio channels, the Summit was broadcasted on the below national and regional satellite news channels:

- MBC

- Al Arabia

- Iraqia TV

- Al Hurra

Cognizant of the importance of the dissemination of information on Hunger Summit, the local and regional media of TV and radios channels as well as the specialized media of the UNAMI-Iraq broadcast and Public Information sections have broadcasted on the issue as a news clipping.

In the occasion of the "World Summit on Food Security", Dr. Fadel was invited by the popular 'MBC' Arab satellite channel to be interviewed on the issue. The interview was part of the daily “MBC Good Morning Arabs” programme and highlighted the commencement of the Summit today, its purpose and goals and FAO's agenda in this regards.

The interview lasted for 15 minutes and included a report prepared by MBC on the hunger in the Middle East, the clip of Mr. Jacques Diouf on the petition to end hunger, the fact of the fasting of Mr. Diouf and the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon and activities of the summit underway.

Worth mentioning the MBC is the most widely watched Arabic Satellite Channel in the region and the Arab world.

     Where do the hungry live?

 

      Click here for the World Hunger Map

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FAO-Iraq supporting rural households by improving their food security and nutrition.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will support drought-stricken rural households in Iraq by helping families establish home gardens and backyard gardening in an effort to increase food production and household nutrition levels. This was made possible through the generous contribution of USD 3 million from AusAID.

Click here to view  Press Release

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FAO TCES Regional Operational Meeting

FAO held a Operational Meeting at the Dead Sea to discuss issues of concern to FAO operations in Iraq as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The meeting discussed areas of potential areas of collaboration and cooperation between the FAO programmes in the region in order to maximize comparative advantage of FAO in emergency and development work.

The meeting included a session on RBM conducted by colleagues from the M&E Unit at UNAMI.

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FAO-Iraq and Ministry of State for the Marshlands

Joint Programming for the Development of the Iraqi Marshlands 

FAO-Iraq and the Ministry of State for the Marshlands Affairs have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the joint coordination for the development of the Iraqi marshlands.

The signed MOU entails an agreement on a five-year medium term Joint Programming Strategy for the rehabilitation and development of the Marshlands area in Iraq. The framework and structure of the said Strategy was discussed in length during the Validation Workshop that took place over 11 and 12 march 2009 at the Meridian Hotel in Amman.

In order to ensure a comprehensive dialogue and discussions and also to guarantee the best impact of the meeting, all stakeholders were represented at the Validation Workshop: technical staff from the Iraqi Ministry of State for the Marshlands Affairs, representatives from the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture/Directors of Agriculture, representative from the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, representatives from the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education/University of Basra, representatives from the Iraqi Private Sector, Donors, the UN Country Team (the DSRSG and sister agencies) and FAO technical staff from the field as well as from FAO HQ in Rome.     

-          Technology Transfer,

-          Capacity Building, and

-          Investment for Agriculture Development. 

As explained above, six main areas were previously identified as priority. Consequently, projects proposals were prepared jointly by the technical staff from FAO and the Iraqi Ministry of State for the Marshlands Affairs. The proposals were discussed in details during the workshop and comments were discussed to be incorporated in the final projects documents. 

As discussed during the meeting, the funding requirement for the comprehensive programmes implementation is US$ 47 million. The Iraqi Ministry of State for the Marshlands Affairs has already committed for the year 2009 a total of US$ 5 million in support of the proposed projects. Additional Donor funding is sought for the prompt implementation of the programmes. 

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Meeting with the Special Representative of the Secretary General:

On January 26, 2009 a meeting took place between FAO-Iraq O-i-C and the Special Representative of the Secretary General (DSRSG) Mr. David Shearer at FAO-Iraq premises in Amman.  The meeting discussed the FAO’s ongoing and planned activities primarily the cooperation between FAO and the Ministry of State for the Marshlands as well as the UN Country Team future operations in Iraq. follow up by the DSRSG’s office took place also with other UN sister agencies and it was subsequently agreed to make use of the planned FAO/MOM validation workshop where a one-day meeting would take place (one day prior to the FAO workshop) between the UN agencies and the minister of MOM and technical staff and subsequently the FAO validation workshop with the MOM would take place over 11 and 12 March, 2009.

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Meeting with the Iraqi Director General for Livestock

A meeting was organized on January 27at the FAO-Iraq premises in Amman with Mr. Salah Kawaz – the Director General for Livestock at the Iraqi MOA. The meeting discussed updates on the FAO interventions to develop the Iraqi agriculture particularly the Livestock and Veterinary Services. Dr. Salah expressed his appreciation to FAO interventions in Iraq and conveyed HE the Minister of Agriculture’s regards.

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First Dairy Project Steering Committee

The 1st Project Steering Committee for the “Modernization and Development of the Dairy Cattle Sector in Iraq” project took place in Amman over 2 and 3 March 2009.

The meeting was chaired by the FAO-Iraq O-i-C, Dr. Fadel Elzubi and facilitated by the FAO technical staff in the presence of the FAO technical staff from FAO HQ in.

The project builds upon achievements of recently completed FAO emergency assistance programs to Iraq in re-establishment of essential livestock services which have collapsed due to widespread looting and damage during the war in 2003.   

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FAO and Minister of State for the Marshlands cooperation:

On Monday December 15, 2008, a high level meeting took place between H.E. the Minister of state for the Marshlands (MoM) Mr. Hasan Al Sari and the FAO-Iraq team headed by the FAO-Iraq O-i-C Dr. Fadel El Zubi. The meeting commenced with a comprehensive brief from Dr. El Zubi on the FAO emergency and rehabilitation activities in Iraq and the planned future interventions and concluded with a request from HE the Minister of MOM to develop a strategic plan for a joint programming interventions between FAO and the MOM to rehabilitate the Marshlands.

 As agriculture is the backbone sector in the Marshlands, a team of technical staff from MOM and FAO commenced with preparing a programmatically comprehensive and sound coordination framework based on MOM priorities and the worldwide FAO’s expertise in this field and its comparative advantages to rehabilitate and revitalize the Marshlands and improve the lives and livelihoods of the Marsh Arabs.

 A joint programming document was drafted and is currently under discussions and revision from both parties. The document will be further discussed in details during the workshop scheduled to take place in March 2009. The event is planned to be a forum for discussing the details of the FAO’s interventions in the Marshlands under the UN Country Team; a one-day session chaired by the DSRSG – Mr. David Shearer is scheduled to take place one day before the FAO validation workshop. The session would be dedicated for interactions between HE the Minister and his technical team, Iraqi officials from related authorities and related UN agencies.

 In order to enrich the discussions and produce a comprehensive joint programming framework, the FAO validation workshop will be attended by technical staff from the MOM, technical staff from the related Iraqi authorities, related Iraqi Directors of Agriculture, technical staff from FAO HQ in Rome, technical staff from FAO in eth field, related UN agencies, Universities, Private Sector and national and intonations NGOs and governmental and semi-governmental entities.  

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Seed II project Inception Meeting

The First Project Steering Committee (PSC) – Inception Meeting for the OSRO/IRQ/703/UNG (Seeds II) project took place last week (4 and 5 December 2008).

The agenda for the meeting was prepared on a lessons-learned basis from the Seeds I project. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Fadel El Zubi – FAO-Iraq O-i-C and was facilitated and led by Mr. Werner Chakkalakal – Senior Project Coordinator, FAO HQ Rome. The inception meeting was attended by MOA technical staff (the Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Researcher at the MOA-Iraq and the National Project Coordinator) as well as FAO technical team.

Membership of the PSC was approved in addition to the Terms of Reference (TORs) of the PSC,  the project workplan, location for the activities, equipment and infrastructure requirements and the training programmes and modules.

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AFSSOT priority pipeline projects:

In November 2008, the Agriculture and Food Security Sector Outcome Team (AFSSOT) has prepared and organized the below list of pipeline projects as priority for consideration by the Donor Community. 

 

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Notes on Iraq National Seed Policy 2008 Published
The adoption by the Government of Iraq of the National Seed Policy is a milestone in the country’s agricultural thrust as the document provides the blueprint for Iraq’s seed industry development. The Policy document is an output of the FAO on-going project “Rehabilitation and Development of the National Seed Industry in Iraq”. It is a comprehensive document which was formulated following a consultative process with holding of the National Seed Policy Forum and very close collaboration between FAO and the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture.  The Policy prescribes strategies and modalities to establish short, medium and long term goals and programmes for Iraqi seed industry components such as variety development, seed production seed quality control services, seed marketing and trade, etc. It aims to provide the guiding principles for all seed related activities and accordingly lead to enhance the performance and increasing the capacity of the national seed industry.  The Policy puts an emphasis on an effective role for the private sector and making the seed industry commercially competitive 

Towards assisting the Government in implementation of the Policy, FAO as an activity of the on-going seed project has supported the preparation of the initial draft of the Seed Law upon review of the existing pieces of legislation pertaining to seed sector. The Government has been requested to take necessary action on fine-tuning the draft among others with holding stake-holders seminars and meetings in the country. 

It is noteworthy to quote among others the following remarks of HE Dr. Ali H.K. Al-Behadli, Minister of Agriculture on the policy adoption foreword: 

Quote 

“I believe that this Policy should provide the enabling environment for sustaining and enhancing growth of the Iraq seed industry over the long term. I would therefore like to call upon all stakeholders, particularly the international agencies and donors for their support and cooperation to make this Policy a success”

 Unquote  

FAO World Food Day World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy

FAO celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October, the day on which the Organization was founded in 1945.

 

This year’s World Food Day activities will focus on Climate change and bioenergy which is expected to involve over 150 countries.

 

 

WFD news clipping       WFD08 information       photo gallery

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Under its Livestock and Veterinary Services as well as the Seeds Programmes, FAO has received additional US$ 7.3 million cover the below two projects:

 - Modernization and Development of the Dairy Cattle Sector in Iraq (A5-24) US$ 4.4 million;

 -  Rehabilitation and Development of the National Vegetable Seed Industry in Iraq (A5-25) US$ 2.8 million.

Preparations for the projects implementation already started to ensure prompt and efficient execution of the two projects.

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FAO Strategy in Iraq Approved

Under the patronage of the Iraqi Minister of Agriculture, H.E. Dr. Ali Al Bahadli and the high level Iraqi delegation and the FAO-Iraq Officer in Charge, Dr. Fadel El Zubi and the senior FAO delegation from HQ, the FAO Strategy in Iraq was approved and signed at the end of a three day validation workshop in April 08 in Amman.

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Seed Legislative Review Meeting

The National Seed Policy was adopted by the Government of Iraq withs signature affixed on the Document by H.E. Dr. Ali Al-Behadli, the Minister of Agriculture on 16 June 2006. Subsequently, efforts were invested in reviewing the existing seed legislation in Iraq and the Seed Legislative Review Meeting took place on 30 June 08 in Amman chaired by FAO-TCES Senior Project Coordinator, Mr. Werner Chakkalakal (second from the left) with the objective of drafting a seeds legislation. ___________________________________________________________

FAO-Iraq Relocated Office

After months of preparations, FAO-Iraq relocated office to Amman moved from its premises (in Shmesani area) to a new location at Um-Uthaina, Amman. The new premises was inaugurated by the FAO Chief TCES Mr. Christian Miczaika (left).  

AFSSOT Regular Meeting

The Agriculture & Food Security Sector Outcome Team (AFSSOT) held its last meeting on August, 21, 2008.  The meeting focused on reviewing and discussing a number of outstanding issues, including three proposed project documents.

Of the eight SOTs within the Iraq UNCT, the AFSSOT is lead by FAO (Mr. Rajan Chhabra- Sector Leader/ FAO Senior Executive Officer) with membership of UNIDO, WFP, IOM, UNESCO, and UNOPS as well as CHF International, ACTED and IRD.

AFSSOT members have also created three study groups for the cross-cutting issues to develop project concept notes covering the topics of decentralization, public and private sector reforms.

Pumping Station

FAO constructed a drainage Pumping Station (Drain 22 ) at Al Mussaib Irrigation Scheme  consisting of 8 pumps with total capacity of 8.0 m3/sec that will facilitate the drainage of an area of 2 500 ha to eliminate water lagging and salinity problems that are restricting farming. The pumping station was fully constructed in early July and will be fully operational by August. 

 

 

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Drainage Systems Programme