2. The History of Date Palm in Iraq.
• Iraq used to be the main producing and
exporting country in the world. It occupied an
advanced rank in the global market for the
date. But the number of palm tress declined
dramatically as a result of successive conflicts
in the production areas, as well as damage a
large numbers of trees by disease, pests and
insects. Additionally, the low prices of for
dates were not commensurate with cost
production.

3. • What is the Result??
Destruction of large area of palm especially
in the southern of Iraq.
Iraq slipped to seventh place in the global
ranking for date production.
 Nearly 23% of Iraqi population lives below
the international poverty line (many of these
people live in rural areas and agriculture is
their main source of income).

7. HSAD Goals
• Creating mother palm stations
• Plantlets nurseries
• Rehabilitation of Date Palm Orchards
• Cultivation and production of palm plantlet
using tissue culture technique.
• Rehabilitation of the Palm sector

8. • Staff training
• Provide protocols needed for date palm
propagation
• Provide international experts to assist
the national team.
• Inclusion of the private sector labs in
the project activity
What is ICARDA, HSAD assistance for develop this
technology in Iraq?

10. Assess existing facilities and human capacity for the
commercial production of date palm tissue culture in Baghdad
and Basra.
Provide a protocol for organogenesis to develop the true-to–
type in vitro plants of date palm.
Develop a training plan for the Baghdad and Basra
laboratories to develop the capacity for date palm tissue
culture.
Develop a work plan for the commercial production of true-
to– type in vitro plants of date palm.
Develop a plan for the commercialization of tissue culture
derived date palm plants.
Advise on needed technical backstopping to Iraq in the
production and commercialization of date palm tissue culture.

11. • HSAD helped Basrah Governorate equip Tissue
Culture Centre
• USAID made the necessary upgrading for
Basrah TC Lab to make it appropriate for Date
Palm micro-propagation.

16. • Date Palm Culture and Biotechnology
Workshop – May 12-16, 2013:
• Training for employees of the
Directorate of Agriculture, private sector
companies, and farmers to introduce
• the important of tissue culture
technology for date palm grooves
rehabilitation.
• The importance of establishment of
Date Palm field gen bank under
supervision of international scientific
centers

17. • The importance of supporting the private and
public tissue culture labs. And create mutual
understanding atmosphere between private
and public labs.
• The importance of spreading the culture of
growing of Date Palm , based on the
importance of the Date Palm Tree's in the
Islam realign and Arab Tradition.

20. Training course for Al-Zafrania Lab Staff

21. Training course for Basrah Lab. Staff

23. Workshop
Public-Private Partnership (PPP)
for agribusiness development in Date
Palm Tissue Culture
Basra, 18-19 May, 2014

24. What is The Aims of this workshops?????
Involvement of the Date Palm tissue culture
technology in agribusiness.
 Highlight the Problems faced by the
commercialization work in date palm tissue culture.
Importance of involving the private sector in
developing the date palm tissue culture.
Quality control - factors causing variation in plant
tissue culture.
The Risk of Agro-diversity Erosion.

27. Specific Training course for Date Palm
Micropropagation via Organogenesis
Follow up the work achieved in previous months and
repeating the important things in protocol like (Shoot tip
extract and sterilization )
Training work on tissue subculture. Showing and
Explaining for the trainees the development that achieved
in the explants cultured in vitro.
 Reviewing the protocol .
 Also training work on how to make stock solutions of
hormone .
Visiting to the URUK tissue Culture Lab in Thi-Qar City.
Reviewing the final protocol (Arabic and English
version) with HSAD team (Dr. Saleh and Dr. Abdul-Minam)