South Iraq Unveils Water-Saving Farming Method

• Mohammed Albadri is a graduate of biomedical engineering from South Iraq who is passionate about addressing food insecurity.
• Agriculture in Iraq suffers from drought and water scarcity.
• Mohammed is developing his idea to use hydrogels to conserve water in agriculture, aiming to reduce water usage while maintaining agricultural output.
• He joined the 2024 UNITAR "Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Promoting Food Security and Economic Development in Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon" programme.
• Mohammed found the UNITAR programme to be an emotional and inspiring experience, providing him with the skills and confidence to pursue his innovative solution for water management in agriculture.

1 September 2025, Hiroshima, Japan - Mohammed Albadri is a fresh graduate of biomedical engineering from South Iraq. He wants to make changes to the food insecurity problem of his country, which leads to his vision using hydrogels to save water and make the agriculture system more sustainable. The UNITAR "Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Promoting Food Security and Economic Development in Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon" training programme helped Mohammed to gain skills to help make his vision come true.

Mohammed noticed that the water level of the river next to his university was going down day by day as a result of climate change. It encouraged him to look for solutions and try to contribute in his own way.

Iraq suffers from extreme drought, and water scarcity is one of the most pressing issues in Mohammed's hometown. Especially in the agriculture sector, farmers must contend with insufficient water supply for their crops and livestock.

Water is the most important thing for them. Nowadays, there's a scarcity of water, and it's a very urgent issue in Iraq

says Mohammed.

Mohammed had an idea. Having studied biomedical engineering, he saw the potential of using hydrogels to conserve water in the earth. In medicine, hydrogels are used to improve wound dressings by absorbing water and nutrients to keep the wounds moist. He believes hydrogels could also be applied in agriculture to help soil absorb and retain water, which would allow farmers to reduce water usage while maintaining the same agricultural output.

I'm looking at the things that I know in my field, which is used in my daily work, hydrogels, as I know it's a lot of applications and how it will be beneficial in that field, in water management, trying to use less water.

Combining his studies with his passion for agriculture and water management, he developed this innovative solution to mitigate the water scarcity issue.

Mohammed was introduced by his university supervisor - an alumnus of a past UNITAR training programme - to the UNITAR "Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Promoting Food Security and Economic Development in Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon" programme. Funded by the Government and People of Japan, the programme aimed to equip young entrepreneurs in the three countries with an understanding of entrepreneurship fundamentals and advanced skills to achieve economic development and fight food insecurity.

In the programme's first two online phases, Mohammed learned about entrepreneurship and agribusiness and clarified his ideas. Thanks to his excellent work in those phases, he was among the 17 top-performing participants chosen to join the third phase, an in-person workshop in Japan, which ran from 4 to 11 February 2025 . The participants visited different places in Japan where they were exposed to Japan's innovative approaches in technology and development.

I like the way how programme started. It … gave us such a spirit of competition to do the most, to try to learn more, to do the best thing.

Mohammed describes his experience as "very emotional". He appreciated being able to ask questions directly to the experienced resource persons, especially Dr. Clare Gately and Dr. Michael Fors Combined with digestible educational materials and practical, hands-on experience, the programme ended with Mohammed excited to return to his country and put his new skills to use in his project.

Our tutors don't get bored from our silly questions. Sometimes I have some silly questions that usually I don't ask because I fear they will judge me, they will say something, but they don't give us this feeling. We can ask whatever we want.

Mohammed believes his idea has the potential to be widely used in Iraq and other countries in the Middle East. Should it succeed, it will improve food production and encourage farmers to farm more, improving food security in Iraq.

He is deeply grateful to the Government and People of Japan for supporting the UNITAR programme and giving him an inspiring and memorable experience. Mohammed says to those who have a vision to accomplish, just like him: be a part of the UNITAR programme.