Decreased water storage paralyzes agriculture... and calls for urgent action

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[size=52]Decreased water storage paralyzes agriculture... and calls for urgent action[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Saif Abdullah[/size]
[size=45]The decline in water reserves in Iraq casts a shadow over agriculture, which is almost non-existent if it continues in the coming days, amid calls for the Iraqi government to move urgently to save what can be saved, so that agriculture does not cease after a few years. The waves of forced displacement in a number of Iraqi governorates have been exacerbated by the drought they are suffering, which has deprived several areas of river water and, consequently, drinking water.[/size]
[size=45]In this regard, the spokesman for the Ministry of Water Resources, Hamid Al-Nayef, explained the reasons for reducing the cultivated land to 25 percent.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Nayef said in an exclusive interview with (Al-Mada), that "reducing the cultivated land to 25 percent is an expectation based on the current water data, as the Ministry of Water Resources announced that water storage has decreased by 60 percent from last year."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Nayef pointed out that “the winter plan submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture this year includes the cultivation of 4 million and 500 thousand dunums of wheat, 3 million dunums of barley, 6 million dunums of permaculture and 3 million dunams of agriculture based on wells, bringing the total to 16 million and 500 thousand. dunams, and if the water resources are set at 25 percent, the areas allowed for cultivation will reach 4 million and 125,000 dunams.”[/size]
[size=45]The head of the agricultural associations in Diyala, Raad Al-Tamimi, called on the Iraqi government to pay attention to the agricultural aspect in a way that is no less important than the rest of the other sectors and fields.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Tamimi said in an exclusive interview with Al-Mada that "setting 25% of the next winter plan is not enough to meet the local need, especially since agriculture represents food security."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed to the end of agriculture in some districts in Diyala Governorate as a result of drought and lack of water, calling for “increased interest in the agricultural sector as a result of a global crisis related to the economy.”[/size]
[size=45]A statement issued by Parliament yesterday stated that “at the request of the concerned committees, the House of Representatives postpones the discussion of the agricultural plan for the upcoming winter season and discusses the dangerous water situation that is afflicting the country.”[/size]
[size=45]In addition, the economic specialist, Dia Al-Mohsen, considered the continuation of reducing the rates of agricultural plans that it will end with the absence of agriculture after a few years.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Mohsen said in an exclusive interview with (Al-Mada), that "food security should be a priority for government agencies, and all necessary plans should have been put in place to secure wheat and barley before anything else, but it seems that the relevant ministries did not care about this aspect."[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The government could have taken alternative measures in light of the drought and reduced water releases from upstream countries."[/size]
[size=45]On Monday, the Ministry of Water Resources confirmed the intention to use groundwater for agricultural purposes in 6 governorates.[/size]
[size=45]The ministry’s advisor, Aoun Diab, told the official news agency, “The ministry’s plans to map the use of groundwater for agricultural purposes in the deserts of Salah al-Din, Anbar, Najaf, Holy Karbala, the Samawah desert and Diwaniyah, are linked to the ministry’s approach to adopting a method of equitable use of groundwater, with the intention that we do not deplete Our reserves are rapidly declining, so we tend to use groundwater in promising areas that have good storage that can be used better than other areas.”[/size]
[size=45]Diab added, “The ministry cannot give approvals to dig wells in areas where groundwater levels have decreased rapidly or significantly, because targeting groundwater does not mean only the quantity of water used, but rather the quality of the water. The percentage of salinity, as happened in the reservoirs located in the Al-Dibbeh dish in the Zubair and Safwan deserts, as a result of the continuous clouds, the salt concentrations increased in the water until some wells were left as a result.”[/size]
[size=45]And he continued, "Iraq is exposed to another dry year in the event of no rain, because the groundwater is fed by rain, not only falling inside Iraq, but also falling in the neighboring countries of the common basins, especially east and north of Saudi Arabia."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "some rain that falls has a positive effect on raising the levels of water storage in many layers and groundwater, and as a result, we can recover this renewable aquifer that is formed as a result of rain."[/size]
[size=45]He continued, "The ministry emphasizes the use of groundwater using modern technologies, not using the old usual methods, i.e. using irrigation methods by sprinkling, which gave higher results by axial sprinkler, whose results were high compared to the lands irrigated by tourist irrigation or other irrigation methods."[/size]
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