Large numbers of Nineveh farmers abandon their lands due to drought

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[size=52]Large numbers of Nineveh farmers abandon their lands due to drought[/size]

[size=45]Translation: Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]A report for the (The New Humanarian) news website dealt with the dangerous environmental consequences of the climate change conditions that the Iraqi agricultural lands are witnessing as a result of water scarcity, especially the wheat cultivation fields in Nineveh Governorate, which is the country's food basket of this important agricultural crop, noting that hundreds of agricultural families were forced to leave their lands. In search of another source of livelihood for them.[/size]
[size=45]The report stated, "Shadi Qader's fingers, which were once covered with the soil of the agricultural lands of Nineveh, are now drenched with cement and his nails are stained with the remnants of building materials.[/size]
[size=45]The report continued, "The 33-year-old, who has spent his life as a wheat farmer, is among thousands of other farmers who have recently left or are planning to leave the so-called Iraq Food Basket."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "Iraq, which was known as the land of Mesopotamia, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow, making their way through its plains, irrigates its rich land, making it a profitable agricultural sector."[/size]
[size=45]However, the report added, "Recent droughts are forcing farmers and their families, who have been left without income, to change their way of life."[/size]
[size=45]He stressed, "The water scarcity is escalating significantly in Nineveh Governorate, the main supplier of wheat in the country, which increases the risk of food insecurity rates, which are already bad and have worsened due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine."[/size]
[size=45]According to the latest information obtained last month from the International Migration Agency, between June and December of last year, 303 families in Nineveh, about 1,800 people, were forced to leave their homes due to drought, at a time when more than 34,000 people were displaced from their homes. Their areas are in southern and central Iraq due to the consequences of climate change, and this includes many of the people of Basra, which has been suffering from a lack of clean water for decades.”[/size]
[size=45]Kader says, “I grew up working on farms to help my family. We used to harvest wheat every year, completely dependent on rainwater, and those were good relaxing times. But things have gotten worse over the past two years.”[/size]
[size=45]And the report added, “With the decline in crops and the fluctuation of harvest seasons, it has become difficult for the farmer, Qader, to provide for his family’s needs over the years. Then in the year 2021, the owner of the farm where he works decided to sell his land, and with no choice but to search for another source of income, Qader moved with his family to Dohuk Governorate and engaged in construction work.”[/size]
[size=45]Qader asserts, “I work twice a week, earning 30,000 dinars per day. It is more than one hour’s wages that he earned from working on the farm, but he made it clear that days passed when he did not get enough work to pay the costs of rent or provide food for his three children.” .[/size]
[size=45]Drought casts a shadow over the situation[/size]
[size=45]The report pointed out that “while the United Nations ranked Iraq as one of the 5 most affected countries in the world by climate change, the rate of rainfall in Iraq last year was very low, making it the second driest season in four decades.[/size]
[size=45]It is based on a statement issued by a group of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations in June, which showed that this led to “water scarcity, desertification and soil erosion caused by unsustainable agricultural practices and damaged and shrinking vegetation.”[/size]
[size=45]The report noted, "The temperatures this year were very high and the weather was also dry, and violent dust storms, which were repeated several times due to drought, desertification and lack of rain, caused thousands of people to be sent to hospitals in the month of May."[/size]
[size=45]He finds, "Water scarcity is not only due to the lack of rain, but the countries from which the rivers originate in Turkey and Iran were building dams and thus caused a decrease in the flow of water to Iraq. This contributed to a sharp decline in water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates, which irrigate many of the region's crops."[/size]
[size=45]The report expects, "The severe water scarcity in Nineveh will worsen, placing more burden on the decreasing surface water and weak agricultural production. The population census of the governorate, according to the latest statistic for 2018, is approximately 3.7 million."[/size]
[size=45]"Climate change is causing real challenges to farmers and to wheat production in general in Iraq, which is witnessing a significant decrease," said Amer Al-Mamouri, spokesman for the grain trade department at the Ministry of Commerce.[/size]
[size=45]The report stated, "The ministry's figures indicate that local crops decreased from 5 million metric tons during the year 2020 to 3.37 million during the year 2021, and by 2022 they decreased again by more than half to only 1.34 million metric tons."[/size]
[size=45]Anas Al-Tai, an agricultural consultant with the Mosul Eye website on the Facebook page concerned with the security, cultural and environmental situation of Mosul, the center of Nineveh Governorate, stated that “about 90% of the governorate’s arable plains have been affected by desertification,” noting that “desertification is not caused by a lack of rainfall only. Rather, the lack of adequate irrigation systems is another factor.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Taie added, "Only 10% of Nineveh farmers own mechanical water sprinklers, or they have lands very close to the waters of the Tigris River to be irrigated."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Maamouri alluded to this problem, adding that "the farmers are still not adapting to the new weather conditions by using modern farming methods."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Mamouri noted, "Most of the farmers of Nineveh continue to rely on traditional agricultural methods of sowing seeds and waiting for rain, without using wells for irrigation, as is the case in central and southern Iraq."[/size]
[size=45]The report considered, “This means that when there is no rain, farmers like the farmer, Yosho Yohanna, 60 years old, from Al-Hamdaniya in the Nineveh Plain, have nothing to do, as he mentioned that he planted 250 dunums of wheat last year, but harvested only 17 dunams. during this spring. Yohanna added, “The grain harvest during the past two years was of poor quality due to drought and I had to sell it at a cheaper price, which hardly covered the costs of its cultivation.”[/size]
[size=45]And the report stated, "John is thinking with ten other families from his area to sell their land and move to another place, and is thinking of joining his daughter in Sulaymaniyah, although he does not know what awaits him there."[/size]
[size=45]John said, “I know nothing but agriculture, it is the profession that I have been accustomed to all my life and I inherited this land from my father. When I leave the farm, what do you expect me to do? I am an old man, how will I be able to save the cost of living?”[/size]
[size=45]For his part, farmer Awab Ayoub, 55, from the Hamdania area, said that "the lack of rain means that the wheat that he planted this year is not even suitable to be fodder for livestock."[/size]
[size=45]Ayoub pointed to the ears of wheat that he planted by saying, “The longer the spike, the better the quality of the grain. The other reason is the salinity of the soil, and the length of the spike does not reach its waist.”[/size]
[size=45]The report stressed, “Farmers like Ayoub choose to sell their crops to private mills if their quality is good enough, while the government, according to several sources in the agricultural sector, buys poor types of wheat in the Iraqi market and mixes it with imported grains of better quality to sell at lower prices. to the public.”[/size]
[size=45]He added that "the local production of wheat, while it decreased in Nineveh, the government increased the purchase price of local farmers by 30%, as a support for them and to ensure that their product would not be sold to the private mills."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Mamouri returns to say, "The price has increased this year from 560,000 dinars per ton to 850 thousand dinars, which is higher than the price paid by the government for some imported types of wheat."[/size]
[size=45]The report finds, "The future of farmers in Nineveh seems bleak, if droughts continue," adding that "farmer Ayoub, while under normal conditions, harvested nearly 100 tons of grain per season, he harvested only a third of that amount during this time." The year, while his son is currently covering his living costs, is betting whether he will grow anything again, and as is the case with many farmers, he is considering leaving his home as a last resort.”[/size]
[size=45]The report goes to “Kamiran, 27, a farmer from Mosul who asked to be named only his first name. He said that he had no choice but to give up the land he inherited from his father, and he explained: I was spending more money on agriculture than the profit I got from it.”[/size]
[size=45]He continued, "Kamiran is currently working as a cleaner in a hotel in Erbil to provide a livelihood for his mother and three sisters, expressing his regret for the drought crisis that changed his life completely."[/size]
[size=45]"The crisis caused my crops to dry up and left me nothing but memories of the years and work my father spent on this land," says Kameran.[/size]
[size=45]About: The Humanantarian website[/size]
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