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Inauguration of Agricultural Centre in Erbil

An agricultural training centre, constructed to support internally displaced Iraqis, officially opened its doors at the Harsham Refugee Camp in Erbil. The facility is part of a United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) project on resilience-building for IDPs, refugees, and host communities in collaboration with the [applied] Foreign Affairs Lab – University of Applied Arts Vienna. The project is funded by the Government of Austria, building upon a previous initiative from the Government of Japan.

The centre is an integrated training facility for agro-processing, which hosts five greenhouses, and is managed in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture – Research Centre in Erbil. The training programme introduces families to greenhouse farming, as well as small-scale agro-processing, beekeeping and fruit-processing.

At the inauguration of the centre, Begard Talabani, KRG Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, said, “UNIDO has been involved heavily in the assistance to IDPs. This is really great work. I hope that UNIDO and other UN agencies will continue to assist us to overcome this crisis.”

The Harsham Agricultural Association aims to provide a sustainable outlook beyond the project closure.

This project will be showcased in the exhibition “Structures of Displacement”. This will take place in Vienna on 18 October and is organised with UNIDO in collaboration with the University of Applied Arts.

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