The U.S. Embassy, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), met from January 15 to January 17 to help Iraq improve its agricultural sector through the U.S.-funded Harmonized Support for Agricultural Development (HSAD) project.
This project will improve agricultural investment opportunities and efficiency and introduce modern farming technologies and practices to help Iraqi agribusinesses become more productive and competitive.
The event was attended by Senior Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Subhi al-Jumaily, other GOI officials, representatives from Iraq’s agricultural colleges, and USAID Mission Director to Iraq Thomas Staal. Mr. al-Jumaily expressed his enthusiasm for the new project, stating, “We are very optimistic that these recommendations will produce results that will strengthen the agriculture sector and eventually lead to increased opportunities for Iraqi farmers.”
In his remarks, Mr. Staal emphasized U.S. government support to Iraqi agriculture, saying, “We are happy to see that our partnership with Iraq’s agriculture sector, which began in 2003, is continuing through HSAD. The recommended technologies and reforms, if implemented, will open up the market for increased investment which in turn will help a broad cross section of Iraqi farmers.”
The HSAD project will help the Ministry of Agriculture reform Iraqi laws, regulations, and institutions in the agricultural sector to encourage increased private sector investment. HSAD builds on USAID’s recently concluded 5.5-year, $179-million Inma agricultural project that helped expand the agribusiness private sector in Iraq and is another U.S. government program in support of Iraqi agriculture as outlined in the Strategic Framework Agreement.
