Iraq needs a green revolution


01/25/2016

Ali Talqani

The deterioration of agricultural production in Iraq to the increase of imports of the products of foreign remarkably and the demand will increase with the passage of time, accompanied by rising prices, taking into account the number of the country's population, which is expected he will be about 42 million people by 2020, which means that the country will consume food more and thus will lead to the lifting of the incidence of poverty. In short, the decline in demand for agriculture is linked to several of the most important reasons for these reasons: -

- Follow the wrong policies on food security as well as the decline in arable land and cultivated areas to 5% or less.
- Lack of attention to agricultural engineers and farmers and the decline of education in line with scientific development and with the country's needs.
- Migration from the countryside to the city and rely on government employment sector and business.
- The government's inability to deal seriously with the shortage of water, which blocked imports from Iraq because of the creation of dams, reducing water quota.
- Lack of animal wealth products, which increased demand on the import of agricultural products.
- Lack of treatment of diseases and epidemics that kill agricultural crops.
- The outbreak of wars and pollution of the environment and increasing desertification and climate extremism.
These reasons prompted the competent organizations such as the United Nations Organization, to raise the alarm where the organization revealed in a statement that 1.9 million Iraqis, or the equivalent of 5.7% of the population are deprived of food, which is consumed per capita is less than the average needs of the average energy of the individual food per day which amounts to 2.161 calories. And that four million Iraqis by 14% of the population are exposed to food insecurity, especially children under five years of age who account for 8.5% are suffering from weight loss, which prompted the inclusion of Iraq within 32 countries need food aid.
Years ago we revealed to us of the Committee on Agriculture and Water in the Iraqi Council of Representatives for meetings with the competent departments and committees held for the advancement of the agricultural sector and is developing plans for the revival of the agricultural sector and support farmers.
But that is not bound by it even with the risks in the country and with the shortfall in the state budget that is accompanied by lower oil prices and cause negative consequences for the Iraqi budget. Which calls for the government and agricultural committees, to bear the full responsibility.

Ways of improving agriculture,
In order for Iraq to regain its health in agricultural production it requires a commitment of several things, including:
- Low-income farmers and attention to rural areas and to secure support services in order to avoid migration into the city by providing incentives and adequate support.
- Activating agricultural initiatives.
- Measures to facilitate agricultural banks.
- Pressure on the Iraqi government to develop agricultural plan that takes into account the importance of food security in conjunction with what is going through the country's political, security and economic crises.
- The scientific sector and support researchers in universities and agricultural institutes and provide real opportunities for advancement of agricultural reality.
- To find a real market for the marketing of local agricultural products.
- Distribution of land to those who wish to contribute to raising the level of agricultural support and inputs of this sector, which provides the actual need.
- Enough to support the livestock sector by supporting projects that are interested to do so.
- Find training opportunities for farmers to help them in the field of agriculture development in a scientific manner to avoid the increase in expenditures.
- The establishment of outreach programs increase awareness of the importance of the country's need for agricultural products.

summary
I've marked the last stages of the political process retardation age in many industrial sectors so that the country can no longer production and relied on imports for most basic necessities of life which means they lost the experience and qualifications for a long time it was hoped that promote industries in proportion to the country's transition from dictatorship and underdevelopment to a democratic system, which reveals the failure of the relationship between industrial sectors and the state policy, therefore, the above proposals are not only important in itself, but as a warning of the risk of delays in interest in agriculture.

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