FAO-EU Funded Project trains women owning dairy businesses
Iraqi women during the FAO-EU Funded Project’s training on dairy products in Nineveh governorate. Photo: FAO
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The FAO-EU Funded Project launched a Farmer Field Day (FFD) program to train 30 women owning rural dairy businesses in seven villages in Tel Kaif area in the northern Iraqi governorate of Nineveh, according to a press statement issued by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The FFD program links dairy women producers from different areas in the governorate and encourages them to share experiences in improving and developing practices of processing and marketing their cheese and dairy products, the statement mentioned.
The program includes training on dairy handling, processing, and marketing of improved traditional home-processed dairy products, as well as on fodder crops, the statement explained.
The Nineveh FAO-EU Funded Project is replicating this innovative learning method to all targeted districts to support the sustainable development of small and medium rural dairy businesses, the statement clarified.
The project already supported four thousand women with training sessions as well as with dairy equipment for milk handling and processing, the statement elaborated.
The FAO Representative in Iraq, Salah El Hajj Hassan, highlighted that the priorities of the FAO are to seek a real partnership with these groups and empower them to support their families independently, emphasizing the need to activate their role, the statement illustrated.
The visiting women led by Om Chaker from Tel Kaif village concluded that the enthusiasm and the family atmosphere that prevailed during the FFD was remarkably interesting, according to the statement.
“As we are working in the same field, we interacted with each other sharing our experiences, knowledge and skills,” Om Chaker said.
FAO’s International Livestock Expert, Chedly Kayouli, said that during the FFD, the visiting women had the opportunity to meet with three groups of women who have excelled in the production and marketing of high-quality dairy products and in the cultivation of fodder crops, the statement added.