

Iraq in midst of �agricultural disaster� Nizar Latif



December 11, 2008

An Iraqi inspects the falling level of water of the Tigris River crossing in central Baghdad in January. Ali al Saadi / AFP Photo



KUT, IRAQ // Just before harvest time the fields around the city of Kut used to be thick with barley, sunflowers and maize. This year large areas were left bare as farmers fell victim to a water shortage that has pushed agriculture in Iraq to the brink.



"We are suffering, all of us," said Falah Mohammed al Dirian, a local farmer. "It has been one crisis followed by another. There is no rain, there is no water in the rivers, the land is ruined by salt, we cannot afford fuel for our generators and there is no help from the government."



Mr al Dirian�s family has been working the land for generations but the 38-year-old said he now sees no future in it.



"All of the farmers I know are encouraging their children to get different types of work, mainly in the Iraqi police and security forces," he said. "There is not much money in farming now. In fact we are losing money these days."



There are 22,000 people living in the 14 villages of the Al Mzak district along on the Tigris River near Kut, the capital of Wasit province. Most of them are dependent on farming for a living and are now threatened by rising poverty.



Average rainfall in 2007 was just 40 per cent of its typical level, according to the Iraqi government, hitting farmers, already suffering from a myriad of problems, particularly hard.



Ministry of agriculture officials said Iraq is losing upwards of five per cent of its agricultural land each year and estimates the country will need to import three million tonnes of wheat in 2008-2009 to offset a 27 per cent drop in domestic production.



Barley production is also likely to fall by 60 per cent, according to government figures and US$132 million (Dh485m) has been set aside to purchase supplies.



"Farmers are abandoning their land, much of which has become unproductive from water shortages or salinity [salt in the soil]," said Latif Hamid Turfa, the governor of Wasit. "Farmers are looking for alternative work and that�s going to do a great harm to Iraq�s food production."



At a local level, Mr Turfa said, there was little that could be done. The provincial council has set up a committee that is in the process of evaluating the land with the aim of reclaiming areas that have effectively been poisoned by increasing levels of salt.



"The drought is beyond our power to control," he said. "And the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are both reduced in their flow because Turkey and Syria are taking more water than before. It means less gets down as far as Wasit."



A report on Iraq�s farming sector by the US Department of Agriculture this year noted an "agricultural disaster" had cut wheat production in some parts of the country by up to 80 per cent of normal levels.



It is a far cry from the 1970s, when Iraq�s lush farming zones between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers grew food for export across the Middle East. Government officials blame years of agricultural neglect under Saddam Hussein, although most farmers now look back on those times as years of comparative plenty.



"I used to grow dates and sell them to Saudi Arabia," said Barik Mahdawi, who owns an orchard in the Zafaraniya district of south-central Iraq. "I used to have traders coming from different countries to buy from me. Now in the local market the dates being sold are Saudi dates.



"If I buy any fruits or vegetables they are from Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia. I can�t get an Iraqi cucumber or a tomato anymore. I�m not sure such things even exist."



The 63-year-old used to employ 20 workers on his land; today he has four.

"Salt is killing the trees," he said. "There will be nothing but desert left in Iraq soon. The ministry of agriculture has got to help us. We need more fertilisers and they must do something about the water levels of the rivers."



After a lifetime growing Iraq�s famous dates, Mr Mahdawi, a father of eight, said he was close to giving up. "Something needs to change otherwise it will be impossible to carry on," he said. "I am seriously thinking of selling the land while I can and getting away, getting out of Iraq if possible."



At the ministry of agriculture in Baghdad, Saad Alwash, the deputy director, said action was being taken, but that problems were complex and would be difficult to overcome.



"We are providing seeds and support loans and improved fertilisers," he said. "And there are new fuel allocations for farmers to help ease their burden from rising prices. In truth the bad security situation over the past years has made it difficult for farmers, there was too much chaos to get organised.



"But there has been a surge in the number of farmers applying for support loans and aid and we expect that will have a positive effect on agricultural production."

Mr Alwash also said efforts were underway to reverse the growing trend of land becoming unproductive. But international officials working in the farming sector have been highly critical of the ministry of agriculture, accusing it of gross inefficiency and corruption.



"All they offer are small loans with absurd conditions attached to them," a farming consultant working for the US government in south-central Iraq said this year, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.



"No ordinary farmer can really qualify for a loan and they end up having to pay a cut to government officials if they want one," he said. "If you�re an Iraqi farmer, the government is useless."



- nlatif@thenational.ae











:: Article nr. 49531 sent on 12-dec-2008 09:32 ECT

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Link: www.thenational.ae/article/20081212/FOREIGN/439906308/1002







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