Agricultural investor financing

Agricultural investor financing

Economical  01/07/2024
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Walid Khaled Al-Zaidi 


Agriculture is one of the most important economic professions in Iraq, in both its animal and plant aspects, and is a primary source of food, in addition to providing job opportunities for a large number of the population, especially those concerned with this sector such as farmers and professionals who graduate from agricultural schools, institutes and colleges. If we go back to the decades of the seventies and eighties, we would find that the number It employed nearly a million people, before its conditions deteriorated in subsequent periods, especially the 1990s and the economic blockade, for several reasons, the most important of which were the migration of rural residents to the cities, most of whom were farmers, and the weakness of plans to combat desertification and industrial encroachment on areas targeted for agriculture.
Here it must be recognized that the revival of this sector could be on the horizon in the near future, so that it can return to its previous state and appear to the fore again, due to a number of factors, including that arable land in Iraq constitutes approximately (17%) of its total area, which is a good percentage compared to In many countries that depend on the agricultural sector for their economies, as well as government programs that were developed with the aim of promoting it and activating its contribution to the gross domestic product, and the rise of development plans in the country, which makes these trends the most important manifestations of stability and addressing many of the imbalances that may occur from time to time in the future. The pattern of the national economy because it originally depends on the oil sector.
Leaving the view of the agricultural sector as a secondary sector and not a primary sector is a promising step for it to take on its real role in the future of promising economic development. The directives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the pursuit of approving a special law for agricultural investment are among the motivating factors for its revival, in addition to the creation of a special fund to finance investors in this field. This ensures the implementation of numerous projects to cultivate areas estimated at hundreds of thousands of dunams, which the Ministry has emphasized to produce strategic crops using modern methods and advanced technologies, as well as increasing projects related to livestock and their development, especially in the fields of that wealth, in line with the directives of the Prime Minister, which seeks to provide Facilitating the activation of these projects through dealing with serious investors who have the ability to work, who have a spirit of commitment to the terms of the investment opportunity, and who have a serious desire to cooperate with the state to implement these projects in a way that achieves their sound economic feasibility.
Transformations in the paths of the global economy, especially during crises, wars, and price fluctuations in strategic products such as oil, gas, and grains, make us face a great responsibility, which is to search for additional factors that support our rentier national economy that relies on the oil sector as the main resource for the development process in Iraq. The agricultural sector is the most important factor that Iraq is an essential element in getting rid of these crises, but it needs a number of decisions related to investment and overcoming the risks that hinder its proper implementation, in order for it to become a tangible reality with a wide scope and long horizon, so that it can be positively effective in comprehensive development plans and an important pillar for the development of the rest of the sectors. Activities, such as industry and trade, as well as housing, work, environment, transportation and other areas.  
There is another issue that is no less important than what was previously mentioned, which is that the development of the agricultural sector is closely linked to food security, and its contribution to alleviating the burden of poverty and reducing unemployment, as well as reducing the volume of imports, so that our country is not only a consumer, but rather a producer or exporter of local crops. Which can enhance the stability of society and make it more secure and reassured about its daily livelihood.

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