Training

The Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Subprogramme of the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture plays an important role in the training of technical staff and scientists from Member States in the use and application of nuclear and related techniques and in the analyses of stable isotopes. Training comes in individual or group fellowships, scientific visits, national, regional or interregional training courses, workshops or meetings.

Training is carried out in the Soil Science Laboratory at the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory, Seibersdorf. Each year staff from the Soil Science Unit with support from the staff members in the SWMCN Section provides training to scientists and technicians from Members States in a range of areas relating to soil and water management and crop nutrition. They include the use of fallout radionuclides (FRNs) to assess erosion and sedimentation processes; field estimation of soil water content and water balance using different soil water monitoring equipment; use of isotopes of carbon and oxygen to evaluate crop tolerance to drought and salinity and crop water use efficiency; biological nitrogen fixation, use N-15 for fertilizer management etc.

On average, 24 fellows are trained in Seibersdorf laboratory Soil Science Unit and in advanced laboratories in developed countries.

Application forms for fellowships, scientific visits, and nominations for training courses, can be obtained at http://www-tc.iaea.org/tcweb/default.asp.