Balqa, Sept. 16 (Petra) –National Agricultural Research Center
(NARC), in cooperation with the Agriculture Ministry’s Extension
Directorate, on Wednesday launched a training course to better link
scientific research with agricultural extension, which would help
deliver research-based techniques and recommendations to farmers.

The course, themed: “Strengthening Links Between Research, Extension
and Effective Technology Transfer to Increase Farmers’ Income,” runs
through Sept. 21 with 10 researchers and agricultural extension
officers from Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

The event covers the stages of agricultural technology transfer,
mainly identifying farmers’ needs and challenges to applying suitable
techniques and monitoring results, and examines mechanisms used by
researchers and extension officers to exchange information and use
farmer feedback to set research and extension priorities.

On its goals, the program aims to help participants turn research
findings into feasible recommendations suited to farmers’ production
and economic conditions, and includes lectures, hands-on applications
and field visits showcasing Jordan’s model for organizing
research-extension relations.

Held under a technical cooperation project to build agricultural
research and extension capacity in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, training
activities are commissioned by the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA), in coordination with the region’s Ministry of
Agriculture and Water Resources.

The program builds on existing cooperation between the center and
JICA in fields including aquaculture, agricultural pond development,
water resource management and sustainable farming practices.

The knowledge and experience gained by participants are expected to
contribute to develop agricultural extension programs in Iraq’s
Kurdistan Region, improve coordination between researchers and
extension agents, and align extension services with farmers’ actual
needs.

//Petra// NQ