زهير علي العاملي

EDUCATION
: Language proficiency
Arabic: mother tongue
Russain : V.good/ reading & writing & speaking
English : Good/ reading & writing & speaking
1959: B.Sc. Agriculture, Baghdad University
1968: Ph.D. in Agriculture and Viticulture, Cuban Agricultural Institution, Soviet Union

EXPREIENCE
1969-1987: . Chief of Fruit Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Iraq
: Functions
. Supervision of Horticulture stations all over the county
. Conducting studies, evaluations and deciding on selection of grape varieties
Planning and setting up orchards in most of Iraqi governorates especially the northern governorates of Dohuk, Erbil, . Sulaimania and Diala
. Introducing drip irrigation in the orchards of north Iraq
. Member of Ministerial Committee for Developing Fruit Planting in the north
. Training employees in modern methods of planting and pruning vines
. Research into the production of seedless grapes and raisins
. External lecturer in grapes horticultur at the college of agriculture in the University of Sulaimaniya
. External examiner of higher degree students (M.sc and Ph.D at the universities of Baghdad, Sulaimaiya and Mosul
. Represented the Ministry of Agriculture at international scientific conferences in Bulgaria 1976 and Romania 1978
Evaluating researches and scientific books about fruit and grapes issued by Iraqi Universities
. 1987-2000
. Independent consultant on planning and maintenance of fruit orchards
2001-2003 Consultant to the Food & Agriculture Organization (F.A.O) on vineyard cultures. Formulating specialized
: projects for development application, which included the following
Studying grape varieties in North Iraq, identifying and recording 85 of them (among them a number of new ones) and . propagate some of them
Establishing demonstration fields in local private vineyards; introducing scientific methods of vine culture; proposing methods of training on wires of both pergolas and T-shape structures which increase production and
. improve quality
. Introducing new varieties to the area with good commercial properties
Bringing a number of grape varieties fron Iran (most of them seedless)
Establishing three small factories of concrete poles production for vine cultures in the Governorates of
. Sulaimaniya, Dohuk and Erbil
Preparing illustrated booklet containing descriptions of 56 grape varieties which where identified during 2001-2002
. 2004
Expert to the local Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in the region of Kurdistan (Erbil) to continue the work
. regarding the develop met of vine culture in the region
Sep. 2005 – Sep. 2006
Expert Consultant to the U.S.-based Organization of Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) under the Agriculture Reconstructions and Development Program for Iraq (ARDI). My duties included supervising the development of vineyards : projects in Iraqi Kurdistan, as follows
Benchmarking the grape varieties trees in local private vineyards in the governorates of Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniya and . collecting more than one million grape cuttings
. Plantation of grape cuttings in three local private nurseries for producing pure grape varieties seedlings
Establishing 18 demonstration fields in local private vineyards for introducing modern training and drip irrigation
. systems
Introducing and propagation six new grape varieties (most of them seedless) by using grafting system
. March 2007 – present
. Expert Consultant with the Ministry of Agriculture in the region of Kurdistan (Erbil)
Performing pruning and training operations on grape trees in the demonstration fields which were created in the
. three governorates
. Propagation of commertial and the new grape varieties
. Training 10 agricultural Engineers on performing vineyards services
Modernization and development of the grapes training system in the agricultural research centers and diagnosing the . varieties planted in them
. Designing, Planning and Planting more than 60 donums of vienyards with privite sectors
. Revising the booklet on grape varieties, mentioned above, to include 42 new varieties bringing the total to 98