There were reports that IS imposed taxes on farmers for the irrigation of their land, especially in Ninevah province, where IS controls all aspects of residents' lives.
While Jiyyad's land is unharmed and he will return to cultivate it after the military operations end, Rislan Muslim — whose land in the Rabia district (in Ninevah, along the Syrian border) was torched by IS — does not think that his fields will be suitable for cultivation in the future. Muslim fled along with his family to Dahuk province after IS entered Ninevah. He is now living off his savings, and despairs at returning to his city after it fell "into the hands of terrorists at such astounding speed."
Muslim told Al-Monitor by phone, "The government must hasten to remove the murderers from our lands and support us so that we can farm it once again."
At the moment, it doesn't seem that the Ministry of Agriculture has a plan to restore the land and the agricultural industry that was affected. It is waiting for the army — with the help of US airstrikes — to eliminate the IS invasion.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture Haroun Rashid al-Hijami told Al-Monitor, "The first offices that were burned and looted were the agricultural directorates in Salahuddin and Mosul. The agricultural damage can be summarized by the loss of more than 80,000 head of cattle, 15,000 buffalo, 1.25 million sheep, 114,000 goats and 12,000 camels. The fate of these animals is unknown in Mosul."
Hijami said that IS "burned all the wheat and barley warehouses," adding, "The Ministry of Agriculture's statistics are not precise because the arson attacks coincided with the harvest season.
"The land was not affected. Yet, as the security problems happened at the time of harvest, the plantings and crops were affected," he stressed.
"The military operations have greatly affected local production, particularly wheat and corn, which are considered strategic crops," he said, adding, "It was expected that Iraq would reach self-sufficiency in terms of wheat production, which [was projected] to reach 4.5 million tons. The military operations, however, have set this back."
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