On the occasion of the international “Earth Day,” the American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB) organized an event, attended by its President, Dr. Michael Mulnix, and a gathering of its students, faculty, and staff, where Agricultural Engineer Ali Ihsan presented the scientific model agricultural project operated by “Rubban Assafina” group on AUIB campus.
Eng. Ihsan expounded on the scientific principles of designing and managing agricultural projects, stressing the importance of “personally following up” a project on part of its main stakeholder. The pioneering model project in Iraq is based on the principle of integrated management of the project’s entire ecosystem, starting with the periodic examination of the earth and plants, measurement of solar radiation, rehabilitation of the project’s site, and the revitalization of its earth, and last but not least, the utilization of the entirety of the natural elements in the project’s ecosystem, with the purpose of doing without chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and the diversification of the plant and animal produce.
The model project includes the technique of tissue culture to multiply the number of trees. The agricultural engineer proudly presented the project’s produce, citing its achievement of a world record in the height of celery plants: “We have increased the cultivated area and the produce,” thanks to the scientific approach to agriculture and management, boasted Eng. Ihsan pointed out the project’s success in cultivating “modified” crops that yield larger quantities of seeds.
Answering a question on how to face the creeping drought and desertification, Eng. Ihsan pointed out “Iraq’s need for 400 million trees to stop desertification,” and that those would require the necessary protection, water, and fertilization. As a solution to the dilemma of such efforts against the backdrop of water scarcity, Eng. Ihsan proposed adding a mandatory clause to agricultural contracts, stipulating the planting of 20 trees in each square kilometer of agricultural plots of land, advocating the planting of indigenous trees, such as olive trees, by virtue of their centuries-old proven compatibility with the natural environment, and its lesser need for water and various kinds of treatments.
The American University of Iraq – Baghdad is a non-profit university founded in 2018. It currently has eight colleges.