USDA Borlaug Fellowship Program in Syria

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is pleased to announce the 2011 Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program (Borlaug Fellowship Program) for Syria.  

The Borlaug Fellowship Program promotes food security and economic growth by increasing scientific knowledge and collaborative research to improve agricultural productivity. The Program offers training and collaborative opportunities in international agricultural economics, agricultural research, leadership and policy to researchers.  Each Fellow will work one-on-one with a U.S. mentor who will coordinate the Fellow’s training and visit the Fellow's home institution after completion of the training.  USDA will select U.S. mentors and host institutions for each Fellow.

The 2011 Borlaug Fellowship Program is administered and funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

The Agricultural Affairs Office at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus is working to increase U.S. agricultural exports to Syria by providing the following services:

• Informing U.S. exporters about the Syrian market, including, import restrictions, non-tariff barriers, labeling requirements, and major trading competitors.  The office generates a number of reports that are available on the USDA/FAS website.  The major commodities of interest are:  wheat, barley, corn, rice, cotton, and pistachios
• Providing U.S. exporters with information on potential importers of their commodities
• Locating new importers and helping them establish trade relations with U.S. suppliers
• Reporting on policy changes regarding trade in agricultural products
• Helping to resolve problems that arise between suppliers and importers
• Facilitating technical help through partners such as the U.S. Grains Council, U.S. Wheat Associates, and American Soybean Association
• Assisting the Syrian importer to find U.S. suppliers for agricultural commodities

Agricultural Office Achievements

• Exports of agricultural products increased 48 percent from US$ 283 million in 2009 to US$ 4,9 million in 2010.  Corn sales from the United States to Syria increased from US$86 million in 2009 to US$180 million in 2010
• Providing the Syrian Central Feed Laboratory with equipment that helps local analysts conduct corn analysis, leading to an increase of U.S. corn exports to Syria
• In cooperation with the American Soybean Association, providing technical help and advice to local crushers, including seminars and field visits. This helped increase soybean exports from approximately US$1.0 million in 2001 more than US$28 million in 2005
• Helping local businessmen to establish large scale soybean crushing facilities that utilize the solvent method to provide soybean meal and soybean oil for local and neighboring markets, mainly Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon
• Encouraging major Syrian grain traders and producers of starch and glucose to establish silos that enable them to directly import their requirements of corn from the United States