Iraq's date palms: rescuing a national treasure - in pictures

Efforts are being made to revive the fortunes of a fruit that forms a vital part of the country's economy and culture, hit by decades of conflict and environmental degradation

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  Once known as the 'country of 30 million palm trees', and home to 600 varieties of dates, Iraq's production of the fruit has been blighted by decades of conflict and environmental challenges, including drought, desertification and salinisation. All photos: AFP

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  The Fadak plantation is a 500-hectare farm operated by the Imam Hussein Shrine in the nearby holy city of Karbala, in central Iraq.

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  The grove is a repository for more than 90 date varieties from the Gulf and North Africa. The 2022 harvest is estimated to reach 60 tonnes, a threefold increase on 2021.

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  Poor-looking date palms in Basra region, once a centre of date production in southern Iraq.

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  'It looks like a cemetery,' says agricultural engineer Alaa Al Badran. He says the number of palm trees in Basra has fallen from six million before the 1980 to 1988 Iraq-Iran War to less than three million today.

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  Salinisation of the Shatt Al Arab River and surrounding land poses a huge challenge, Mr Al Badran says. Drip irrigation and desalination solutions are expensive.

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  Iraq's Ministry of Agriculture says progress has been made in increasing date palm production, with numbers increasing from 11 million to 17 million in 10 years.

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  While a 2010 initiative to boost date palm numbers ended eight years later due to lack of funds, officials expect it to be relaunched, as more money has now been made available.

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  According to official figures, Iraq exported almost 600,000 tonnes of dates in 2021. They are the country's second largest export commodity after oil, according to the World Bank.

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