The UN FAO Sponsored Iraq Agricultural Growth & Employment Generation Support Program
The recent, successful completion of Iraq Agriculture Support for Growth and Employment Generation Program (IAGES) signed a crucial achievement in support of the efforts of the Iraqi Government to strengthen and consolidate its agriculture sector, create employment and diversify the country’s economy.
By Fadel ElZubi, FAO Representative in Iraq
After three years of joint efforts, FAO-Iraq and the Ministry of Agriculture of Iraq drafted a broadly negotiated and agreed on National Agriculture Policy (NAP) and a very comprehensive Investment Strategy (NAIS). Both documents were presented to sector stakeholders and were very well received. Equally important, a Policy and Strategy Support (PSS) unit at the MoA was established to function on a permanent basis.
The stakeholders involved in the process leading to the development of the NAP and NAIS and capacity building too, included all key Iraqi ministries related to the agriculture sector as well as the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council. The NAP is the first national policy document produced in the agriculture sector in Iraq and the first time a policy formulation is given a sound institutional base within the Government of Iraq. Such contemporary institutional arrangement is rare in the Middle East.
The new national policy and strategy are expected to support growth in the agriculture sector in the years to come, by establishing sound environmental practices and ensuring protection and economic use of water and land. The adequate implementation of these documents is expected to lead to an employment rate in agriculture of nearly 25% of the Iraqi workforce.
A substantial part of the work under IAGES was conducted out of Baghdad by FAO and Iraqi experts, who together provided a very comprehensive set of studies and activities to support the preparation of the policy and strategy. It included the drafting of five diagnostic studies, two surveys and a comprehensive training program with key Iraqi officials in charge of the management, strategy and policy aspects in the sector, cutting across a number of government ministries, to include the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, The Statistical Office (COSIT), and the Prime Minister Advisory Council.
The diagnostic studies (Growth Diagnostics, Trade Volume, Value Chains Analyses, Labor Survey and Investment Climate Assessment), were conducted to inform the NAP and the NAIS. Most of them were done for the first time in Iraq and provided invaluable insights on the main binding constrains for development, structure of exports and imports, partners and trends, factors affecting trade, indicative analyses on value chains functionality, especially for products with potential to compete in the markets, the constrains and advantages related to the labor markets and identified key areas for improvement of the business climate. Their conclusions were used to identify the key policy areas where intervention is needed and accordingly, design investment programs in support thereof. This significant preparatory work, conducted in cooperation with the PSS, was followed by tailored trainings related to each of the studies, as well as a special training on policy issues.
The National Policy and Investment Strategy are meant to project the sector towards a trajectory of growth and sustainable development. While they imply a gradual reformation of the structure of the sector, especially in the fields of credit markets, land reform and subsidy policies, the policy dimensions discussed are also calibrated towards taking maximum advantage of the great potential of the agriculture sector in country, the structure of regional (and broader) markets, the substantial financial resources which the country can bring forward and the current state of the natural resources involved, with a view to ensure sustainable use and protection.
Overall, the IAGES projected highlighted the employment situation in Iraq. With 60% of the Iraqi population under the age of 25, there needs to be significant effort on the policy and institutional level to accommodate the needed employment boom that is potentially looming in the near future. The IAGES project helped identify that the agricultural sector needs to be the prime growth sector in the future in order to supplement Iraq’s oil based economy with the employment growth needed to match the youth population. Much of the results and future policy initiatives generated from IAGES can be used to build future policy initiatives for other countries in this region as Iraq’s demographics are similar to many Arab countries. The importance of agricultural growth is dependent on facilitating the needed infrastructure such as vocational schools, as well as, an enabling policy environment that is conducive to agro-industry, which in turn will prepare such countries for future job creation and income generation.
The USD 5 Million IAGES Program was funded through the Iraqi Trust Fund (ITF).
FAO-Iraq has scored diverse success stories in Iraq, by providing world-class technical assistance to the agriculture sector in Iraq over the last decades, and more recently, disbursing about USD128 Million under the Iraqi Trust Fund, part of which was IAGES. More recently, in an effort to adapt to the new conditions in Iraq, which is moving out from an emergency situation to a transitioning state and is provided with substantial financial means, both at the center and the governorates, FAO- Iraq is pioneering a new approach in its work, by engaging directly with the governorates in specific projects in their territories and has already started a number of projects with them.