Capacity Development of Iraqi Agricultural Engineers and Farmers with Special Focus on Seed Production and Management Under Project OSRO/IRQ/902/EC

The Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) under the OSRO/IRQ/902/EC project “Support to agricultural livelihoods of rural and peri-urban returnees and communities in Ninevah Governorate, Iraq” is supporting the agricultural sector in rural and peri-urban areas in Ninevah Governorate to make a significant contribution to the sustainable food and agricultural livelihood security. Among the different components of the project, seed management is one of the key areas support to official entities to provide seeds to the farmers in a good quality state, with high varietal purity and identity, as well as high physical, physiological and health quality. To achieve this, the best production techniques need to be followed to produce good quality seed. Apart from good agronomic management of the crop, seed production differs from grain production on the following key issues: land requirement, isolation, rouging, prevention of contamination and limitations of generations. Moreover, seed crops must meet specific quality standards prescribed by the national seed regulations. The technical, administrative, and legislative control by the certification agency provides guidelines that must be followed to produce good quality seed that meets the standards. In this context, the Service Provider will provide training activities to improve the knowledge and skills of agricultural specialists for effective and efficient management of seed production, seed processing and storage, seed quality assurance and certification as well as greenhouse vegetable production technologies. The training will also benefit seed growers and greenhouse vegetable grower farmers.

Five training courses about seed development and greenhouse vegetable production will take place in Cairo, Egypt between February and March 2022: - Training Course on Seed production (variety release, identification, maintenance, breeder seed multiplication, certified seed production) (5 Participants); - Training Course on Seed processing, seed plant maintenance, seed storage and management, and seed marketing (5 Participants) - Training Course on Seed quality assurance and certification (field inspection, seed quality analysis, seed health) (7 Participants); - Training Course on Greenhouse production technology (5 Participants); - Study tour for ‘seed growers and greenhouses vegetable growing farmers’ (8 Participants).

The training participants will gain sufficient knowledge and practical skills on: seed production, seed processing, seed storage and management; plant maintenance and seed marketing; seed quality assurance and certification (field inspection, seed quality analysis, and seed health); greenhouse production technologies and seed grower’s scheme. This will allow participants to disseminate the skills gained from the courses and adopt the appropriate technology in their own community and fields, contributing to sustainable food and agricultural livelihood security.