National Date Palm Specialist

Organizational Setting

FAO is a key player pushing for interventions that bridge the continuum between humanitarian support and development interventions in the food and agriculture sector, covering rural and peri-urban areas. Assisting in preventing disaster-related emergencies, providing early warning for food emergencies, and helping in rehabilitation of food production systems are amongst FAO’s predominant roles. The main forms of FAO’s interventions include, but are not limited to, needs assessments, the provision of essential agricultural inputs and technical assistance in planning and management for sustainable recovery and resilience in rural production systems.

The incumbent will largely support one of FAO’s largest projects in Iraq, entitled: “Restoration and Strengthening the Resilience of Agri-food Systems in Southern Iraq”. FAO supports about 23,000 smallholder households as they rebuild their agricultural livelihoods to diversify their income and achieve food security. The project focuses on three value chains, including that of date palm.

Date Palm

Date palm has been a major agriculture export product in Iraq in the past. During the war of 2003, the date palm industry was substantially damaged. Now, Iraqi officials are promoting replanting programs to rehabilitate the country’s date palms. The government wants to triple the number of date palm trees by 2021. The program, which initially started in 2005, involved planting new date palm farms and the Ministry of Agriculture established a new plant tissue culture laboratory for date palm micro-propagation. Also, the government is encouraging the private sector to rehabilitate old date palm plantations, and private investors have been encouraged to cultivate additional sites in the Iraqi deserts. Overall, the Iraqi government program aims to increase the number of trees to 40 million in the next 10 years.

Despite these efforts, the sub-sector faces a number of challenges that have resulted in low production and income levels. They include:

1. Lack of quality and quantity of sources, availability and price of date palm shoots or seedlings (natural or tissue culture);
2. Crop management is still under traditional procedure, with limitations to planting, water management, growing, pesticides application as well as pollination, harvesting storage fumigation and marketing; and
3. Date palm agroindustry is small/ underdeveloped and could generate more jobs and income along the whole value chain.

The relationship between desertification and climate change, combined with biodiversity loss, degradation of land and water shortage makes farming in the dry lands (especially in southern Iraq) increasingly difficult and challenging. In this context, the date palm is very useful, with its ability to withstand adverse climatic variations, in addition to providing an environment for farmers to grow a variety of crops. Date palm constitutes an important economic factor that provides income to a large number of farming communities particularly those residing in the arid regions. Moreover, FAO is aware of the ability of date palm to tolerate harsh climatic conditions and salinity renders it a significant potential resource in holding back or combating desertification.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Iraq, the technical guidance of the FAO Lead Technical Officer LTO at RNE, under direction of the Project Manager in Baghdad, the direct supervision of the International Date Palm Specialist, the National Date Palm Specialist will work in close collaboration with project team in FAO Iraq and national consultants hired.

Technical Focus

The main responsibility of the national consultant is to support the International Date Palm expert with the design, implementation and M&E of the date palm project component. This will start with an assessment giving clarity on the project interventions and stakeholders involved, followed by giving hands-on technical support and advice to farmers in line with the project work plan and approved budget. A large focus of the national expert will be the communication with national counterparts, including the government of Iraq.

Tasks and responsibilities

The National expert will assist the International Date Palm Specialist in achieving the following:

• Ensure regular and open communication between FAO and the Government of Iraq – starting with Governor’s offices in Basra, Missan and Thi-Qar as well as Directorates of Agriculture and Directorates of Water Resources, as instructed by supervisors;
• Contribute to the review available reports produced by FAO (date value chain report), UN agencies, government, academia, etc. and conduct key informant interviews with farmers, government staff, processors, wholesalers, and transporters to identify/ verify main challenges to date palm sub-sector observed by farmers, government and private sector in the sub-sector in southern Iraq. More specifically:
  • Review of best-cultivation practices to enhance yield and reduce post-harvest loss for both monoculture and mixed oasis farming systems;
  • Review of conservation and utilization of date palm germplasm resources in light of climate change;
  • Appraisal of the role of tissue culture according to the scale of production; and assess date palm agro-industry, products and marketing;
  • Assessment of existing public and private sector systems for extension and farmer support in the project areas, including their technical content, coverage, and effectiveness, specifically the degree to which they address considerations of environmental sustainability and the integrated management of farming systems;
• Support stakeholder and value chain mapping exercises for the south of Iraq;
• Contribute to strategy development of the project
• Support the implementation of the work plan and oversee distribution of inputs to project beneficiaries
• Support the M&E of the FFS component and reporting using FAO format;
• Perform other related duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in a field related to agronomy and horticulture sciences, rural development, food sciences, and other related areas;
• At least five years in agricultural development of date palm – in areas as research on seedling production, water management, integrated pest management, post-harvest management, etc.
• Working knowledge (level C) of English and Arabic language
• Iraqi National.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Expertise in date palm development
• Academic and practical experience in extension methods;
• Experience with FFS curriculum preparation, demonstrated field experience and capacity in training
• Familiar with implementation of so-called Good Agricultural Practices and Climate Smart Agriculture
• Solid analytical and conceptual skills and the ability to think creatively.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Experience or knowledge of running small businesses is an added advantage.
• Good reporting skills.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing)
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help please contact: [email protected]
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted
• Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/
• For additional employment opportunities visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/