Iraq's agricultural capital is threatened by desertification and demands for the payment of farmers'

[size=52]Iraq's agricultural capital is threatened by desertification and demands for the payment of farmers' dues[/size]

[size=45]Jabbar Bchai[/size]
[size=45]The peasants and farmers of Wasit Governorate threatened to leave agriculture permanently because of the government’s unfair measures and its false promises with them. It is called "Iraq's agricultural capital".[/size]
[size=45]The governorate’s farmers considered the delay in disbursing their financial dues as an intentional matter by some political parties, the aim of which is to push the farmers to refrain from agriculture, so that Mesopotamia will turn into barren deserts and be an open market for neighboring countries after the spoilers succeeded in sabotaging the industrial sector in it in addition to other sectors while the agricultural sector is still facing those challenges. Wasit Governorate retained the first place in the production of the wheat crop for the current season among the governorates of the country, after it marketed 910 thousand tons, of which 770 thousand tons were marketed to the silos of the Ministry of Trade and 40 thousand tons to the seed companies of the Ministry of Agriculture, in addition to nearly 100 thousand tons recycled for local consumption. As seeds or for milling purposes by the farmers themselves.[/size]
[size=45]According to these production data, in addition to the animal production data of all kinds, the Wasit local government demanded the Prime Minister to name the governorate (Wasit, the agricultural capital of Iraq) to appreciate and support the sincere efforts that culminated in increasing production, both plant and animal, and improving its quality. The farmer Aziz Abdel Hadi, from the Dujaila district in Wasit, says that "the aim of this demonstration is to deliver a clear and explicit message to the government, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Finance and Trade, of the necessity of disbursing marketing dues as soon as possible."[/size]
[size=45]He added, "It has become clear to us that the process of delaying the payment of our dues is an intentional issue, the aim of which is to create a state of boredom among the farmers, which leads in the end to their reluctance to agriculture. neighboring countries.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "the farmers of Wasit will have another position and a more dangerous escalation in the event that their financial dues are not disbursed quickly after they incurred large losses and were exposed to problems and repercussions as a result of the debts incurred by them, since most of the paragraphs of the agricultural season were obtained on credit, in the hope of paying the farmers' debts in the marketing season."[/size]
[size=45]His colleague Ahmed Al-Shather from the countryside of Al-Ahrar district said, “It seems that the government is not interested in the agricultural sector and does not want to achieve self-sufficiency in various crops through its insistence on delaying the payment of farmers’ dues. This situation is repeated annually without any justification.”[/size]
[size=45]He wondered, "After the marketing season ended and we marketed the entire production to the Ministry of Commerce, is it possible for the farmer to be dealt with in this way at a time when some farmers did not receive our full financial dues from last season?"[/size]
[size=45]He said that "the reality of the agricultural sector in Wasit Governorate, which represents the agricultural capital of Iraq, is at stake, and this capital is threatened by the danger that may turn its lands into deserts.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shather called on the Prime Minister to "be serious about releasing all the overdue financial dues. On the contrary, trust will be completely lost between the farmer and the state, which will push him to refrain from agriculture or go to the local market to sell his agricultural products." The arable area in Wasit Governorate is estimated at 2556626 dunums, of which 47,847 dunums are reclaimed lands and 151550 dunums are semi-reclaimed lands, while the non-arable lands are estimated at 2035489 dunums. How many. For his part, the assistant governor of Wasit for Agriculture and Water Resources Affairs, Salam Mizal al-Batekh, said that “the local government and all institutions concerned with the agricultural sector, whether they are the institutions of the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade or Water Resources, all stand with the farmer and demand his legitimate rights, the simplest of which is the payment of his dues in full without any delay.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "Until now, we are unaware of the reasons for delaying the disbursement of these amounts, although they were fixed in the budget and are present, and the matter only needs a notice from the finance to trade to disburse the rights of the farmer without favor or make him revolve in the spiral of unknown, which may lead to a reluctance to agriculture in the coming seasons."[/size]
[size=45]Watermelon asserts that “the delay in paying farmers’ dues, as happened in previous seasons, and recycling them for the new season, has many economic problems on the reality of the governorate in general and on the standard of living of the Wasti citizen, who has more than 60% of his sons working in the agricultural profession.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "the delay in disbursing the rights of farmers resulted in a recession in the markets, an increase in social problems, a large number of problems and disputes, and a lack of work, given that this money is the only source of livelihood and livelihood for hundreds of thousands of the hard-working sons of Wasit, whose rights and money are no less important than the importance of employees' salaries." He said, "We renew our warning against the failure of agriculture in the governorate due to the farmer Al-Wasiti's reluctance to market his crops to the outlets of the Ministry of Trade in the future, or his reluctance to engage in the agricultural process mainly because of the problems he is facing, the most important of which is the delay in disbursing his financial dues. More than a year, it burdened them and caused more security, social and economic problems.”[/size]
[size=45]Pointing out that “the Ministry of Commerce bears this defect as well as the Ministry of Finance, which was very late in launching the financing of those amounts without which the farmer cannot continue farming and the equation may be reversed in resorting to importing various agricultural products, not just wheat, and this is inconsistent with the government’s supportive directions to encourage The national product and the limitation of the import of agricultural products that were prohibited under the agricultural calendar.”[/size]
[size=45]Wasit governorate is satisfied with only 30% of its general agricultural and animal production, and the surplus 70% of it (vegetables - fruits - table eggs - meat - fish - in addition to fodder mixtures) is marketed to the capital Baghdad and other governorates, and Wasit governorate contributes to securing 30% of the needs of Iraq's food total, which is the governorate that topped all governorates in producing the wheat crop. Wasit Agriculture Directorate had diagnosed the most prominent challenges and problems that affected the agricultural reality in the governorate following the low water levels in the Tigris River, while it submitted a proposal to raise the level of production, adding one million acres of agricultural land.[/size]
[size=45]Wasit Agriculture Director Arkan Marioush revealed that “the salinity rate in some areas also negatively affects the agricultural reality, and farmers suffer from the problem of seeds and fertilizers, as well as from the lack of agricultural supplies. Marketing centers, in addition to the delay in the payment of farmers’ dues, which occur with each season without there being any radical solutions to this problem.” Marioush says that "these reasons and others may prompt a change in the agricultural reality of the governorate from a productive governorate that takes the lead in production, especially for grain crops, to an agriculturally unproductive governorate, and even animal production is declining a lot." He explained, "We have previously submitted in the Wasit Agriculture Directorate to complete three projects that would raise the level of agricultural production, represented by finding a financial solution to complete the Wasit-Dujaili reclamation project, which has an area of ​​600,000 acres, after its procedures were completed in coordination with the Ministry of Water Resources, the completion of the Kut-Batira project, and the Wasit-Dujaili project. East and West Al Gharraf to add one million acres of agricultural land and raise the level of production.” It is noteworthy that the General Company for Grain Trade announced the day before yesterday that the total quantities received from the wheat crop reached throughout the country until the first of July (three million, two hundred and sixty-three thousand) tons of wheat of all kinds, distributed according to the grades as follows:[/size]
[size=45]Fine wheat first grade three million and thirty-one thousand nine hundred twenty-three tons, fine wheat of second grade two hundred and twenty-one thousand tons, six hundred and sixty-one tons, and fine-grained wheat of the third degree nearly ten thousand tons.[/size]
[size=45]She revealed that the quantities that were received witnessed a decline in production compared to what was received last year for the same period, especially in the governorates of Nineveh, Kirkuk and Salah al-Din due to the lack of rain last winter.[/size]
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