Helping Iraqi farmers adopt conservation farming

Dr Colin Piggin (right) and researchers in Syria planting trials using zero versus conventional tillage

An Australian agricultural research project is helping Iraqi farmers to produce more by adopting the conservation farming techniques widely used in Australia and growing hardier crop varieties.

Up to 95 per cent of farmers in some regions of Australia use low-till machinery and retain stubble to eliminate their need to plough and to retain vital soil moisture. Iraqi farmers, who use traditional cropping systems, cultivate heavily, burn stubble and sow late, and face very low yields.

Australian expertise

Conservation cropping experts from Western Australia and South Australia are working with Iraqi scientists on this ACIAR & AusAID funded research project testing whether hardier varieties and conservation farming techniques can help Iraqi farmers, who face a similar climate to parts of Australia.

The project is based in Syria at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) because of the dangerous situation in Iraq. The Iraqi scientists, advisors and farmers travel to Syria to see the trials, visit farms using these techniques and to get advice on conducting their own trials in Iraq.

Project leader Dr Colin Piggin reports that the trials, which are testing alternative crops (oilseeds, oats, peas) along with wheat, are consistently yielding more with minimum tillage, in part due to the ability to sow the crops early.

A key to the adoption has been the development and adaptation of farm machinery by local machinery manufacturers who have constructed various types of zero and low-till seeders with assistance from South Australian no-till machinery expert Jack Desbiolles of the University of Adelaide.

Early adopters

Dr Piggin said Iraqi farmers, like Australian farmers, are initially sceptical of the change in farming techniques, but when they see the advantages, they are soon convinced of the benefits.

“We took a group of farmers from northern Iraq to visit some of the Syrian farmers who have adopted these techniques and they were amazed to see row upon row of plants setting seed, when across the border, on cultivated fields, dry conditions were again stunting crop development,” Dr Piggin said. “The financial benefits are also clear, one of these Syrian farmers of 1200ha, said he had saved $20,000 in cultivation costs and made an extra $240,000 as a result of the increased yield of this crop.”

The number of farmers using zero-till technology has now grown from 3 to around 250 farms in Syria (a total of 10,000ha), while in Iraq, adoption is just starting, growing from 12 farms to over 50 farms (3,000 ha) in the past three years.

Building skills

With visits to Iraq ruled out, the Iraqis receive training to implement and promote conservation farming themselves. Over 60 Iraqis have taken part in training courses in Syria at ICARDA, 10 have visited Australia on study tours or six month placements, including one currently based in Albany, and six are embarking on post-graduate study in Australia.

Dr Piggin believes the conservation cropping project will go a long way towards improving Iraq’s food security. “It’s only fairly simple stuff, but it’s having such a big impact. It’s good for a sophisticated agricultural country such as Australia to give back to those in less developed areas."

Related media

Link to interview on Radio National Bush Telegraph, with Colin Piggin and Jack Desbiolles (11 February 2010):
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2010/s2816652.htm

Link to story ‘Taking no-till to the Middle East’, by Gregor Heard of Rural Press:
http://sl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/grains-and-cropping/gener...