New Mexico State University is part of a team of universities chosen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the Iraq Extension Revitalization Project. The project’s goal over the next year and a half is to strengthen agricultural Extension across Iraq.

As part of the project, the U.S. universities are working with Iraqi university faculty, Ministry of Agriculture officials and Iraqi field agents to improve their understanding of Agricultural Extension.

The first set of training sessions involves general Extension education. The two-week sessions will be held in Egypt and Jordan and are designed to better equip Iraqi field agents and university Extension faculty to carry out effective agricultural Extension programs.

NMSU also will make more specialized training opportunities available, focusing on technical disciplines including community and economic development, farm and agribusiness management, agricultural products marketing, youth development programs and family health and nutrition.

“We’re also working intensively with our partner university in Iraq to get some Extension projects on the ground as soon as possible, namely a greenhouse project to propagate seedlings and an irrigation project to complement that and increase the survivability of the plants,” said Paul Gutierrez, NMSU vice provost for outreach services.

“This is important because we have determined the lack of quality seedlings is a significant constraint to agricultural production by small farmers in the region where this project will be implemented,” said Octavio Ramirez, NMSU Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Department head.

Both said the projects are most important to the people of Iraq, but they also are important to people in New Mexico because small farms are becoming a larger factor in state agriculture.