Business | Markets
Drought signals tough time for Iraq's agriculture
A severe drought will force Iraq to import 40 per cent more wheat in 2008-09, the agriculture minister said, even as the country struggles to revive a sector crippled by decades of neglect and decay.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:55 October 23, 2008
Baghdad: A severe drought will force Iraq to import 40 per cent more wheat in 2008-09, the agriculture minister said, even as the country struggles to revive a sector crippled by decades of neglect and decay.
"In 2007, average rainfall was just 40 per cent of the normal level in Iraq, falling more than half and severely affecting crop production," Agriculture Minister Ali Al Bahadli said in an interview.
Ministry figures provided yesterday showed that Iraq expects to import 2.8 million tonnes of wheat in 2008-09, up 40 per cent from the previous year. Wheat production is expected to drop 27 per cent to 1.6 million tonnes.
Bahadli said local wheat output was "still below where we would like it to be" as Iraq feels the effects of a drought in the Middle East and Central Asia, which the US Agriculture Department (USDA) says is one of the worst in recent history.
The USDA expects the region's wheat output to fall by at least 22 per cent in 2008-09, and sees Iraq's wheat production dropping to 1.3 million tonnes.
The predictions are more bad news for Iraqi farmers, struggling to cope with a chronic scarcity of water, electricity and fuel while they seek to shake the effects of decades of isolation under former leader Saddam Hussain and five years of war.
Disrepair
In the 1950s through 1970s, Iraq exported dates, wheat and barley. But its irrigation systems have since fallen into disrepair, certain crops and varieties were dictated by government planners and production declined.
Today agriculture in Iraq, once known as the 'fertile crescent,' is the second-largest sector of the economy after oil and the single largest employer. Yet it accounts for just 8 per cent of GDP, a distant second to Iraq's giant oil sector.
Bahadli said the US-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki had allocated some $200 million to help farmers cope with the drought.
He warned that without effective measures, Iraq's agriculture sector was in danger of deterioration and livestock owners might be forced to sell animals in the country or smuggle them into neighbouring countries for sale there.
But it remains to be seen whether the government will make assistance accessible enough to farmers, many of whom do not own the land they work, and encourage them to plant anew.
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