Farmer organization models and cooperatives play crucial role in agricultural sector develop in Iraq

An event was held by partners implementing the European Union Agri-food Business Development Programme (AfBDP) in Baghdad to discuss the development of farmers’ organizations and cooperatives in Iraq and ways to strengthen their role so they can better respond to the needs of society

Date issued: 02 June 2023 | Size/duration: 00:03:11

Social and solidarity economy entities such as cooperatives and farmers' organizations can play a crucial role in supporting the development of these value chains by facilitating coordination among farmers, improving access to markets and finance, and advocating for more conducive policy and regulatory reforms.

Participants took stock of the current situation of agricultural cooperatives and farmers groups in Iraq, some of the challenges and opportunities with the different models for business clusters in agriculture and how they can be supported to grow into sustainable entities, including through the creation of a conducive policy environment for cooperative development and promotion of farmers groups in Iraq.

Since 2021 the European Union has funded several international partners in Iraq - ILO, FAO, IOM, UNESCO, ITC, GIZ and COWATER - to collaborate under a large Agri-food Business Development Programme that uses a programmatic approach by leveraging each agency’s strengths to address different weaknesses in the private sector and agri-food sector in a coordinated fashion. Central to many of the projects in the AfBDP is an agri-food value chain approach that supports stabilization and governance, and promotes sustainable job creation.