Hsad Conservation Agriculture

• 1. Stephen Loss, Atef Haddad, Yaseen Khalil, Sardar Sami* and Khasro Mament*. * Ministry of Agriculture & Water Resources, Erbil. Promotion of Conservation Agriculture in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region

2. Outline What is Conservation Agriculture (CA)? What are the benefits? Farm Machinery Survey Training courses in IKR Field Demonstrations in IKR Future of CA in Iraq Ankawa Research Station 3. Progress: 2005 to 2012ACIAR Project Impact 2005-2014 Good start in develop promoting zero tillage in Iraq & Syria 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 NumberofFarmers Areaofzero-tillage(ha) Iraq Area Syria Area Iraq Farmers Syria Farmers 4. CA adopted on >120 mill ha, esp. in USA, Argentina, Brazil, Australia & Canada Conservation Agriculture +earlysowing CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE ZeroTillage SoilCover DiverseRotations Increased yield Decreased fuel cost Decreased labor cost Improved soil fertility Decreased erosion Less greenhouse gas Early/timely sowing Greater Long Term Profits ? ? ? ? 5. Benefits of CAMeanGrainYieldkg/ha Mean yield early vs late over four years* at Tel Hadya, Syria 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 Wheat Chickpea Barley Lentil CT Late ZT Early 18% 20% 12% 15% 2008/09 2011/12 6. CA in Iraq and Syria CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE ZeroTillage & EarlySowing SoilCover DiverseRotations Increased yield Decreased fuel cost Decreased labor cost Improved soil fertility Decreased erosion Less greenhouse gas Early/timely sowing Greater Long Term Profits 7. Benefits of CA Season No fields* Mean yield ZT t/ha Mean yield CT t/ha Increase % 2008/09 42 2.50 2.14 17 2009/10 163 1.66 1.39 19 2010/11 358 2.29 2.16 6 2010/11 103 0.55 0.00 Mean farmer yields under ZT plus early sowing and nearby CT fields in Syria. * Mostly wheat & barley, with some lentil & chickpea Farmer Testing of ZT in Syria 8. Farmer Surveys Ninevah - Abdulradh et al. 2012 338 farms in 2011: technical efficiency increased from 75 87% with ZT, or getting 12% more production with same level of inputs. Syrian - Yigezu et al. 2014 820 farms in 2011: 465 kg/ha (31%) more yield with ZT, fuel and labor cost reduced, and net farm income increased by US$194/ha. If half of Iraqs wheat & barley ( 3.2 mill ha) switched to ZT this would produce an extra US$300 million p.a. 9. IKR Machinery Survey Aim: Better understand cropping systems and machinery. Survey developed and pre-tested with surveyors (Aug/Sept 2013). Data collection: 60 farms in Erbil, 20 in Duhok, 10 in Sulaimania 10 in Garmiyan. Main outcomes: farm size varied enormously 25 - 7,000 donums 46% farmers had no formal education almost all farmers owned a tractor & seeder 11% farmers spread seed & then incorp. 12% tractors < 70 HP wheat/barley dominate, with some fallow low awareness of CA interest in testing ZT Training surveyors, Sulaimania 10. HSAD CA Training Courses 1) Introduction to CA & Participatory Extension October 28-31, Erbil 16 researchers & extensionists - Erbil, Duhok, Sulaimania & Garmiyan. 11. HSAD CA Training Courses 2) Zero-tillage Machinery November 4-7, Erbil 13 MoAWR staff & farmers - Erbil, Duhok, Sulaimania, Garmiyan. 12. CA Training Courses Participatory Extension (in collaboration with ACIAR project) October 2013 (Erbil) & April 2014 (Amman) 4 extensionists - Erbil, Duhok, Sulaimania, Garmiyan. 13. CA Training Courses ZT Seeder Conversion (in collaboration with ACIAR project) September 15-18, 2013 (Erbil) 4 MoAWR staff - Erbil 14. Supply of ZT Seeders After a review of ZT seeders suppliers, Rama (Jordan) was selected relatively simple, low cost, short delivery time. Unfortunately, delivery of six seeders was delayed until mid-Dec., too late to use for farmer demonstrations. Prototype test in Jordan Sept. 2013 Seeders in Ankawa, Dec. 2013 15. Zero-tillage Demonstrations in IKR Barkarka (Erbil) Rama Seeder Conversion Mr. Kameran Ibrahim 8 Nov. 2013 ZT Demonstration 15 farmers 28 Nov. 2013 16. Zero-tillage Demonstrations in IKR Bardarash (Dohuk) Nardi Seeder Conversion Mr. Nawzad Younis 9 Nov. 2013 ZT Demonstration 10 farmers 23 Nov. 2013 17. Zero-tillage Demonstrations in IKR Jam Jamal R.S. (Sulaimania) John Shearer Seeder Conversion 17 Nov. 2013 ZT Demonstration 17 Nov. 2013 5 farmers 18. Zero-tillage Demonstrations in IKR Kalar (Garmiyan) ZT Seeder Demonstration 10 farmers 18 Nov. 2013 Seeder was also used by four neighboring farmers. In all demonstrations, ZT areas established well and looked better than conventional areas, Yields have not yet been reported. 19. HSAD CA Achievements Identified that CA has much to offer IKR, like other areas of Iraq. Increased awareness and capacity of CA among researchers, extensionists and farmers in IKR. Desire among researchers, extensionists and farmers to test ZT more widely. We hope this will happen in 2014/15 using farmer conversions, six Rama seeders purchased, and other seeder suppliers in Mosul and elsewhere. ZT seeder prototype, Mosul 20. Future of CA in Iraq . Center for CA Research University of Mosul Plus initiative to expand CA into central and southern Iraq in irrigated areas. 21. Thank you: shukran: zor sipas