Farmers in the dry areas of Iraq are reaping a bounty of improved cereal yields and livestock performance. With the second phase of the Mashreq/ Maghreb Project now underway, we look at the impact the project has achieved so far in Iraq.

By Karnil H. Shideed, Habib Halila and Nasri Haddad

raq is beginning to take major strides in production of meat and cereals from its dryland regions, thanks to collaboration between scientists, researchers and farmers in West Asia and North Africa.
        The wider difficulties faced by the country have been sidestepped in the agricultural sector by Iraq's involvement in technology transfer activities led by the Ministry of Agriculture and IPA Agricultural Research Center, and to which the Mashreq/Maghreb Project of ICARDA has contributed.
        Officially known as the Regional Program for the Development of Integrated Crop/Livestock Production in the Low Rainfall Areas of WANA, the first phase of the project was implemented by ICARDA's West Asia and North Africa Regional Programs in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and funded by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. (IFAD) It brought together scientists, technicians and farmers in the Mashreq (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) and the Maghreb (Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) not just for technology exchange but to compare socioeconomic factors in the regions and how common experiences can be used in reshaping a better future for rural communities.
        Although the project area in Iraq was confined to part of Ninava province in the north of the country when the M/M project was set up in 1995, the benefits are now being felt throughout the country, since five national development projects have been set up to use the M/M project mechanism for technology transfer. Nearly 65% of Iraq's wheat production and almost a half of barley production depend on natural rainfall.
        About 60% of cereals in the province are grown in low-rainfall areas, receiving less than 200-350 mm of annual rain, with the result that yields of both wheat and barley averaged just 400-800 kg/ha in 1967-91. This low productivity is mainly due to a combination of traditional farming practices, low adoption rates for improved technologies, and low and erratic rainfall.
        Thanks to the M/M project and to the national researchers, these shortcomings are now being addressed in a number of ways:

• improved barley varieties
• forage legumes
• vetch/barley hay mixtures
• better ram selection
• increased lambing rates
• urea treatment of straw
• feed-blocks
• field advisory training

Livestock improvements

Nutritional benefits from enhanced forage mixtures, as well as feed-blocks made from agro-industrial by-products, have reduced ewe feeding costs and contributed to better lambing averages in sheep flocks.
        It was clear from a sheep fertility survey that the Awasi sheep in Iraq had a real fertility problem in all the rainfall zones, under all production systems and flock sizes. The low lambing percentages could be attributed to correctable, low ovulation rates.
        Introducing feed-blocks (see panel) has been so successful in Iraq that the private sector rapidly saw the potential and lifted production in just three years to more than 24,000 tonnes by the end of 1997 for use by more than 6,500 flock owners. Feeding Awasi ewes from these high-energy blocks during the late stubble grazing and hand feeding periods reduced intake of whole barley by two-thirds -- a considerable saving. The vast majority of flock owners were impressed by their flocks' ability to maintain body weight when fed with the blocks.
        Urea feed-blocks, supplemented by Vitamin A, are another success, lifting lambing rate to 77% against 45% for

Innovations now being exploited in Iraq as a result of the Mashreq/Maghreb project include the high-yielding barley variety Rihane-03 (top) which is being grown on 250,000 ha this year. Awasi sheep (center) have also been the focus of a ram improvement program to produce higher quality breeding stock in conjunction with the IPA Agricultural Research Center. Ewe milk production has been increased by the introduction of forage legumes such as Vicia sativa (bottom), either into continuous barley cropping systems or instead of fallow.

hormonal injections. Overall, Vitamin A supplementation has improved the lambing rate by 8% and the number of twins by 2%. Lamb deaths are slightly down compared with those from untreated ewes.
        Hormone treatment of 52 flocks in the project area lifted lambing and twinning rates by 39% and 40%, respectively, under semi-intensive systems, and by 25% and 40% among extensive flocks. An Iraqi team was later able to extract and produce the hormone locally.
        Feeding urea-treated straw during late pregnancy and lactation improved the performance of the Awasi ewes, boosting milk yield by 10%. Straw intake was up by 40%, thereby reducing whole barley grain and wheat bran intake by 23% -- a worthwhile saving in feeding costs.
        A further 175 g/day increase in milk production was one of the benefits of introducing forage legumes, particularly Vicia sativa, either into continuous barley cropping systems or instead of fallow. The ewes involved in trials showed a body weight gain of 4.8 kg/head when grazed for 19 days on the vetch forage, compared with ewes grazing natural pasture.
        Using the vetch as hay to supplement barley during hand feeding also brought benefits in milk production of an extra 100 g/day. Feeding costs were down considerably where total substitution was made for barley. Such was the interest in vetch that seed availability was a major constraint. The IPA Agricultural Research Center in Baghdad and the Mashreq/Maghreb project eased this shortage by developing an on-farm production program for forage legumes and provided the needed training for this activity.
        Ewe culling percentages in Iraq were high but there was reluctance among flock owners to take such measures with rams. The owners were taught how to use simple and applicable physiological traits for lamb selection which helped increase the lambing rate by 17% compared with previous efforts. Distribution of improved rams has also been stepped up by the IPA Center which selected new outlying multiplier flocks. During the life of the M/M project a total of 990 rams were produced and distributed among sheep owners, including 200 from the multiplier flocks, the rest coming from the IPA Center's own breeding station.
        Take-up of the various components of improved technology has been effective among the targeted sheep owners. Those operating semi-intensive systems had the greatest take up (62.5%) but a third of those keeping their flocks on one site adopted new technology, and 41% of those who traditionally move their flocks according to season.