Texas A&M University has landed a leading role in a U.S.-funded effort to begin rebuilding the agricultural economy of Iraq over the next three years.

   The university's International Agriculture Office will lead a consortium of a dozen universities and government agencies in a $107 million project awarded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

   "This is a great opportunity to help stabilize Iraq by improving the economic well being of its people," Dr. Ed Hiler, vice chancellor and dean for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M, said in announcing the award on Monday. "It's also a recognition of the extensive international expertise of our partners as well as our faculty here."

   Under terms of the agreement with USAID, the Texas A&M-led consortium will serve as a subcontractor to Development Alternatives Inc., an international consulting firm based in Maryland that will oversee the entire project. The arrangement is designed to pull in experts rapidly from the public sector using the Texas A&M umbrella.

   Funding for the project's first year is set at $37 million across all partners, with options to renew for a second and third year, explained Dr. Ed Price, associate vice chancellor for international agriculture and federal relations at Texas A&M.

   "Our challenge will be to get things happening immediately," he said, noting that one first-year goal is to double agricultural production on 30,000 Iraqi farms.

   "Another priority will be to rebuild a Cooperative Extension agency to serve Iraq," Price said, so that Iraqi farmers can learn best management practices through demonstration farms and other local educational efforts.

   Assessment teams will start heading to Iraq, probably within two weeks, to set priorities on what can be done quickly to revive the country's croplands and livestock production.

   According to a USAID analysis, "agriculture in Iraq is in crisis, borne from decades of neglect and poor planning. Both agricultural production and market-oriented activities have been devastated by decades of conflict, repressive government policies, international sanctions and insecurity."

   Even though half of the country's work force is engaged in agriculture, the sector's contribution to the national economy is only 6 percent, USAID noted. Irrigated land has declined to 30 percent of the area covered in the 1970s, primarily due to a deficient irrigation infrastructure. Nutrient depletion and salt build-up in soils have contributed to a drop in crop yields since 1990, and all regions of Iraq are dependent on food imports. More than half of Iraq's 5 million hectares are planted in wheat, barley, rice and corn; another 1.5 million hectares grow fruits.

   Under terms of the project, entitled the Agriculture Reconstruction and Development Initiative for Iraq, the consortium will address Iraq's agricultural woes in four ways:

   * Revitalize agricultural production by increasing farmers' access to improved varieties, fertilizers, and crop and livestock management practices, beginning in this fall's planting season.

   * Reactivate the rural economy by stimulating small- and medium-sized agricultural enterprises along the chain from farm production to the consumer market.

   * Nurture rural financial services that would meet the needs of farmers and agri-businesses in coordination with the country's emerging financial system.

   * Rehabilitate the natural resources base by demonstrating the technologies needed to promote sustainable land use, improve farm water management, and mitigate harmful impacts to public health due to unregulated contamination and effluents.

   Price noted that Texas A&M is particularly well suited in assisting Iraqi agriculture, since the climates of the two are similar. Half of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station's 13 major research centers are located in areas of the state that receive rainfall amounts similar to Iraq's.

   The university cooperates with 56 countries in agricultural research, development and education, including Tunisia, Egypt, Kuwait, Turkey and most of the countries of Central Asia.

   Other members of the consortium include the Agriculture Research Service of USDA, the Cooperative State, Research, Education and Extension Service of USDA, Cornell University, Washington State University (in partnership with the University of Jordan), Virginia Tech University, Purdue University, and the University of California at Davis.

   These international agriculture agencies are also partners: International Center for Wheat and Maize Improvement, based in Mexico City, Mexico; International Water Management Institute, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka; and International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas, based in Aleppo, Syria.

Writer: Dave Mayes, (979) 845-2803, d-mayes@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Ed Price, (979) 862-4551, ec-price@tamu.edu