FAO supports corn silage production in Kirkuk

The meeting was attended by Mrs. Ahlam Fakhreddin, Assistant Director of Agriculture, and a delegation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Iraq, headed by Dr. Salah El-Hajj Hassan, FAO Representative, including FAO experts and five extension project supervisors division cadres in Kirkuk Directorate and representative from the private sector.

The meeting provided an excellent opportunity to discuss the organization plans to support the agricultural sector in Iraq and the main achievements of FAO work in Ninewa Governorate, in particular in the field of fodder production and dairy processing.

Dr. Salah highlighted that the purpose of the visit is to study and improve the reality of agriculture in Kirkuk governorate. He presented FAO plans to replicate the successful experience of Ninewa in Kirkuk governorate, main area for cultivation of yellow corn in Iraq, indicating the opportunities to process and market yellow corn silage to supply livestock breeders throughout Iraq, where corn silage is considered a high quality feed.

The FAO Representative congratulated the pioneering initiatives of the private sector to investment in the production and processing of corn silage, also a priority of FAO as main solution to improving the financial returns of livestock breeders.

The visit also included a field observation to the silage plant in the village of Al-Bdeir in the Dibis district, where, for the first time in Iraq, 3000 dunums of corn will be harvested for making silage.

The FAO team emphasized on the follow-up of the silage manufacturing process and the commitment to technically support this initiative.