ئه‌ی فۆر كورد

Home | About Us | Contact Us | Books | Researches



	‌

You reap what you sow
By Hawkar Jalal Ahmed BAKRAJO

While mechanization of farming techniques may in the short term create some job losses, a productive agricultural industry would have many long term economic and social benefits for the Kurdistan region.

It is claimed that the Garden of Eden lay somewhere within the Kurdistan Region, which further highlights the fact that the soils in this region are extremely fertile. If farmed properly, the region could become one of the most productive farming areas in the world.

Agriculture has traditionally been the main industry in the Kurdistan region. In years gone by, the area was fairly self-sufficient. However, as the years passed and the techniques barely evolved, for various reasons such as lack of education, money and ongoing wars, presently Iraqi Kurdistan is not self-sufficient and relies heavily on imported food.

Despite more than 10 years of relative autonomy, the Kurdish agricultural industry still lags behind its massive potential mainly due to the Saddam Hussein regime’s systematic destruction of forests, orchards and water sources. The regime also sowed arable fields with mines to force a mass migration from rural villages to the towns, thereby significantly reducing production levels. Traditionally the Kurdish farming population resides in many villages scattered all over the region.

Many of the techniques currently being used are very labor intensive, such as the ploughing of the fields, sowing of seeds and harvesting of crops. While mechanization of farming techniques may in the short term create some job losses, a productive agricultural industry would have many long term economic and social benefits for the Kurdish region. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has recognized the benefits of investing in agriculture sooner rather than later and has devoted a significant percentage of its budget to agriculture in order to encourage, maintain and develop this essential sector. Lack of money and education are two additional factors, which continue to hinder this industry.

But the KRG has initiated various programs to deal with the low uptake of technology and more modern farming practices. The KRG recently spent $7.8 million on 200 new tractors, which will be allocated to the farmers and villagers of the Koya, Garmian, Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Suleimanieh areas in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The government has also signed a contract that will provide continued maintenance care for the tractors. But tractors are not the only machines that need replacing and updating. New combine harvesters, storage and refrigeration systems and irrigation and dripping systems are also needed. The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation is also running training courses for agricultural staff and farmers to increase their knowledge and proficiency in modern machinery specific to irrigation and dripping systems.

The Kurdistan region has large areas of arable land, the climate is conducive to growing many different crops and there is a plentiful supply of water. To capitalize on its potential, the farmers need to keep learning better techniques of soil management and irrigation -- something that should not be too hard given the large numbers of qualified agricultural and irrigation engineers. Progress is also being made in adopting new techniques of fertilizing the crops and implementing pest and disease control. The government invested in some light aircrafts to enable the farmers to aerial spraying techniques, which have been used with great success in the mass production of strawberries.

Currently a wide range of crops are being grown, such as wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentils, cotton, rice, tomato, beans, sunflower-seeds and onions plus various types of seasonal vegetables. As the farms start to become more mechanized, they are also starting to produce a much wider range of goods on a large scale, such as cut flowers, timber, leather, industrial chemicals (starch and sugars), fibers, such as cotton, wool and flax, as well as tobacco.

If the momentum is maintained and progress continues, not only will Iraqi Kurdistan become one of the most productive agricultural areas in the Middle East, but maybe we will glimpse the Garden of Eden once more.