Iraqi Growers Coming Back
30 December 2008 Iraq has historically been the breadbasket of the Middle East; the country’s agricultural sector accounts for as much as a quarter of Iraq’s jobs, but 5 years of violence and drought has jeopardized the nation’s growers and made the country reliant on food imports. Reports by McClatchy News Service, however, say agriculture in Iraq is coming back.
While Iraq benefits from a 10-month growing season, fertile soil and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, it currently faces challenges such as electricity and fuel shortages and deteriorating water delivery systems.
Additionally, the Iran – Iraq war in the 1980s followed by United Nations sanctions after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait created obstacles to import newer, better seed varieties. At the same time, a shortage of border security agents allows Syrian, Iranian, and Turkish imports to flood Iraqi markets.
However, in some areas, growers such as Mansour Abdul Khadim in Babil Province are optimistic. Khadim says the days of government mandates for wheat production appear to have ended, giving him the opportunity to earn extra money by growing higher valued vegetables. "I am not restrained by any government condition. I am free to use the land the way I want it," said Khadim, whose family has farmed in the area south of Baghdad for decades.
Khadim is helping to rebuild decrepit canals and boost his farm’s production as part of a 700-member agricultural cooperative. Babil Province could become a “salad bowl” for Iraq if the peace holds and farmers are able to invest in their land, says US Department of Agriculture’s Patrick Broyles, who is working in the region. "They could turn Babil Province into an agricultural center like the Fresno valley."
However, high production potential for the area is at least a decade away, said American agricultural experts working in Iraq. "The basic system for agriculture is there; it’s just in shambles," said Joseph King, a project leader for studies on Iraqi farming conducted by Texas A&M University’s Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture.
Said Fuad Husseian, who is working with Broyles on a contract with the State Department in Babil province: "The quality of the ag produce is the best in all the Middle East." Many Iraqis believe their products simply taste better than their counterparts from Syria and Iran.
One wholesaler in Abu Ghraib said: "Every time retail sellers come to buy from us, the first question they ask is ‘Do you have local product?’”
Some wholesalers, having trouble getting product from Iraqi farmers due in part to the electricity shortage, are calling for a return of subsidies to pre-war levels for fuel and fertilizer. Although the subsidies still exist, they have been reduced. "Now we are supported with nothing, no seeds, no fertilizers," said one wholesaler east of Baghdad. "If the farmer was to buy what he needed from the market it would be more expensive than the goods that are being imported." Adding to wholesalers’ problems were road closures throughout 2006 and 2007, making the wholesale market in Abu Ghraib unreachable for some of its customers.
The US State Department, which sees Iraq’s re-emerging agriculture as a potential path to peace, is investing in an agricultural extension program to spread the latest farming techniques. A US embassy official said: "Ultimately, the goal is to provide enough income so people won’t be shooting at each other, or at us." A flourishing agricultural sector could be a key to keeping violent cells from returning to the area, said Sayeed Sabaa. "We hope to … have people to work here to stabilize the security situation." Sabaa said.
Opening this week was a US-funded US $3.2 million project, “Central Euphrates Farmers Market,” intended to make it easier for farmers in Babil province to sell their products.
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