The Iraq Britain Business Council is establishing an Agritech Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr Amet Selman, CEO of AAA Holding.  

For its first project the committee is looking into ‘AI Driven Agriculture and Sustainable Use of Fertilisers’. Dr Selman will gather interested IBBC Members and external experts to draw up a plan to dramatically improve agricultural practices throughout Iraq. AI driven soil testing is to be used to map Iraq’s farmland and decide what kind and amount of fertilisers are required to obtain optimal yields. The intention is to improve dramatically Iraq’s food production using British and international best practice by deploying cutting edge technologies. Dr Selman will personally oversea the work of the committee and drive forward its implementation. 

  

Iraq has been for thousands of years one of the world’s most fertile countries. In recent decades, due to conflict and an overpowering import-based oil economy,  Iraq has suffered a massive decline of its once flourishing agricultural sector. For several years IBBC has been discussing improvements to Iraq’s agricultural practices with members and UK and international institutions, including the Agri Epi Centre, Henry Doubleday centre, British Water, and the World Food Programme, and with both the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture and the Kurdish Regional Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.  

 

Mr Christophe Michels, MD of IBBC,  says:

‘We are delighted that one of our Members has taken up the challenges and is driving this vital new initiative to make Iraq once more a breadbasket in the middle east’. 

  

Baroness Nicholson, IBBC’s President comments:

‘Having been elected to one of Britain’s largest farming constituencies for 10 years as an MP I know a great deal about the plights of farmers and how technological change can lead to dramatic improvements in agricultural practices in a short time. I am confident that Iraq’s neglected agricultural sector can be turned around relatively quickly with a combination of political will, which the Government of Prime Minister Sudani is demonstrating, and outside expertise provided by IBBC and others. I commend Dr Selman for this important and timely initiative.‘ 

IBBC Agritech – video