Based on the Framework of Cooperation signed between the UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO), the two organizations, together with the Ministry of Energy of Iran, Deputy for Water and Wastewater Affairs, organized from 9 to 13 August 2009 the second of a series of 5 regional workshops on “Capacity Development for Farm Management Strategies to Improve Crop-Water productivity using AquaCrop”, that was held at the Olympic Hotel in Tehran, Iran. More than 35 participants, including top and mid-level managers, professionals and researchers in water and agriculture, met in Tehran for five days to be trained in the practical applications of AquaCrop, a new crop model recently developed by FAO, which focuses on simulating the attainable yield in response to water which is the key driver for agricultural production. Representatives from institutions from the following 10 countries in West Asia and Middle East attended the training workshop:
- Iran
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Lebanon
- Pakistan
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Turkey
- Uzbekistan
- Yemen
The main objective of the workshop was to train participants in the practical applications of AquaCrop in order to improve their skills in strategic farm management practices toward increasing crop water productivity in rainfed and irrigated production systems, and to identify possible paths of action towards implementation of the concept in their own field of work.
