Agricultural Extension Services in Iraq

In 2018, a comprehensive review conducted by UNDP and FAO identified several key challenges in the agriculture sector of the Kurdistan Region, including limited access to information and weak capacity in product value addition and marketing. Government extension staff were also found to lack the tools and capabilities needed to support farmers in addressing these issues effectively.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (MoAWR) operates 43 Agricultural Extension and Training Centres across the region. However, the financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly undermined their ability to provide services. Extension staff have been unable to carry out field visits or demonstrate new technologies—both of which are critical for tackling practical agricultural challenges.

The KRG Agenda (2019) highlights the need to modernise agriculture through innovative practices and technology transfer. Extension departments serve as the crucial link between research institutions and farmers, tasked with identifying problems, testing solutions, and transferring knowledge to the field.

The aim of this technical assistance is to support MoAWR in developing a new strategy for its extension departments in light of these challenges, and to implement targeted capacity-building programmes. To this end, MoAWR has requested technical support from UNDP’s FFER-KRG programme to strengthen its extension service delivery.