Additionally Iraq’s Turkish neighbours won’t allow an unimpeded flow of water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers into the country; now water from those all-important rivers barely makes up 20 percent of what agriculture in the area needs.
It is difficult to get exact numbers but the number of palm trees has certainly decreased in the area. In 1989, official figures indicated that there were around 1.9 million palm trees in Basra. Around half of these were not fruiting. In 1977 there were around 13 million.
Mahdi has his own proof. Of the 600 trees he farms, he has lost 60 and he knows more will die off soon. Mahdi inherited his farm from his father but believes he won’t be able to hang onto it much longer. “There is a real crime being committed against Basra farmers,” he said.
It is not only outsiders that farmers are blaming for their woes. After the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the new Iraqi government halted previous agricultural subsidies and protectionist policies. So now Iraqi agriculture has had fierce competition from other lands too, especially Iran.
Every day hundreds of trucks loaded with vegetables, fruits and different types of dates cross at the Shalamjah border, 30km east of the economically important state capital of Basra; they’re bringing their produce to the state’s markets and local farmers see them as a threat.
The director of agriculture for the Zubair district, Saleh Hasan al-Luaibi, told NIQASH that “al-Zubair farms produced 250,000 tonnes of tomatoes this year. That’s a good harvest,” he said, “but the farmers have problems on the market.”
Comments are closed.