Our responsibilities encompass all research and development activities related to soil and water resources, as well as ensuring the implementation of production and maintenance work on the institute’s land. This includes developing methods to preserve soil moisture in place to reduce agricultural production risks in arid regions, determining economical, feasible, and acceptable soil conservation methods to protect against erosion impacts, designing irrigation-drainage systems and networks, rehabilitating lands affected by salinity and sodicity for agricultural production purposes, and highlighting the role of natural resources and their economic benefits in the national economy.
Climate Change and Watershed Management Unit Responsibilities:
The Climate Change and Watershed Management Unit is responsible for developing methods to enhance the preservation of soil moisture in place to mitigate agricultural production risks in arid regions. This involves identifying economical, feasible, and acceptable soil conservation methods to protect soil and water resources from erosion impacts. Additionally, the unit is tasked with assessing potential changes resulting from climate change in soil, water resources, and crop production, and formulating appropriate adaptation recommendations. The unit also conducts research focusing on ensuring the protection and sustainable utilization of water resources in watersheds.
Plant Nutrition and Soil Management Unit Responsibilities:
The Plant Nutrition and Soil Management Unit aims to contribute to maximizing the yield potential of agricultural fields by optimizing the nutrient status of soil and enhancing the conditions of farmlands, ensuring long-term productivity and sustainable agricultural activities. Through field, greenhouse, and laboratory studies, the unit conducts soil and plant analyses to determine the most economical types and quantities of fertilizers that will yield the best results. The unit also identifies the levels of micro and macro elements as well as heavy metal content in the soil. It aims to maintain soil fertility and quality within the framework of sustainable agriculture, and investigates the responses of cultivated plants to organic and inorganic fertilizers. This helps establish a solid foundation for future agricultural methods and strategies, ensuring a secure pathway for the future of farming.
Agricultural Mechanization and Information Systems Responsibilities:
The unit conduct regional and national research and related activities to enhance the effectiveness of tractor, machinery, equipment, and facilities for sustainable agricultural production in line with advanced agricultural techniques. Accordingly:
Ensure the functionality, improvement, and continuity of available tractors, machinery, equipment, and facilities.
Identify operational issues related to agricultural mechanization in enterprises and propose solutions.
Determine economic principles for machinery operation management.
Investigate the environmental impacts of agricultural mechanization.
Research measures to ensure machine reliability, human-machine ergonomics, risks, and precautions for tractor, equipment, and machinery use to prevent accidents. Conduct training and dissemination efforts.
Explore the possibilities of implementing agricultural informatics technologies (such as remote sensing, geographic information systems, and precision farming).
Conduct research on the utilization and potential of alternative energy sources in agriculture (e.g., solar energy, geothermal, biothermal, wind energy, hydro energy, and other alternative renewable or non-renewable energy technologies).
Conduct mechanization research for effective energy use for drying and storage, agricultural electrification, harvesting, and utilization of agricultural residues and waste.
Develop agricultural mechanization plans, design new agricultural machinery prototypes or enhance existing ones, and put them into practice.
Conduct research on different soil cultivation and seedbed preparation methods (direct sowing and reduced tillage) for sustainable soil productivity and energy efficiency in line with regional conditions and plant requirements.
Research effective use of seeding and planting machinery, improving fertilization efficiency, plant care and protection machinery, irrigation mechanization, harvesting and threshing machinery, greenhouse mechanization (environmental control, covering materials, thermal screens, heating-cooling-lighting, and automation), preventing qualitative and quantitative losses in harvesting and post-harvest stages, mechanization of vegetable and fruit production-harvest, and product processing techniques and machinery (cleaning, transportation, and packaging).
Propose environmentally friendly and economically viable projects that promote the development and use of alternative energy sources while enhancing product yield and reducing production costs, fostering environmental compatibility.
Agricultural Irrigation and Land Reclamation Management Responsibilities:
The unit is responsible for working on efficient utilization of irrigation water and the planning and design of appropriate irrigation systems. This includes drainage, reclaiming saline and alkali soils to make them reusable, researching the usability of wastewater for agricultural irrigation, and focusing on achieving optimal yields with reduced water usage in anticipation of the climate change. The unit also works on the utilization of technology in agricultural irrigation.
Department of Apiculture
In the field of apiculture, the department tasks are conducting research on breeding, cultivation, and production techniques to enhance bee efficiency, focusing on quality and productivity of bee products, preparing projects and providing training on bee and queen bee breeding, artificial insemination of bees, bee products, bee diseases, and pests in line with the needs of public institutions, associations, private sector, and producers. Within the institute, ensuring the provision of beekeeping materials for projects, adhering to health regulations during production, maintaining records of productivity and information, and handling all record-keeping tasks are also part of our duties. Additionally, planning the annual production and harvest schedule of honey and other beekeeping products and conducting queen bee breeding are also within our responsibilities.
