From drought to deluge: Iraq’s farmers and tourists reap benefits of heavy rains

After years of drought, unexpected weather brings a glimmer of hope to country's struggling agriculture and tourism sectors

Heavy rains have re-flooded the marshes with water, bringing life back to the ecosystem. Photo: Raad Al Asadi

Wheat production is expected to hit five million tonnes this year nationwide, up from 4.23 million in the 2021-22 season. Photo: PM office

The boats used in the marshes are called mashuf. Traditionally, the mashuf is used for fishing, or to transport goods and people. Photo: Raad Al Asadi

Local and foreign tourists are return to the marshes to enjoy their beauty. Photo: Raad Al Asadi

About 3,000 tourists are visiting the marshes on a weekly basis, mainly foreigners. Photo: Raad Al Asadi

Food is served in a 'mudhif' or guesthouse, run by locals. Photo: Raad Al Asadi

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani kicked off the start of the marketing process for wheat in Iraq, in Wasit province. Photo: PM office

Tourists visiting the marshes. Photo: Raad Al Asadi

Farmers queue outside Wasit province silo to sell their crops to the government. Photo: PM office

The son of tribal sheikh and farmer Abdul Aal Mahdi Chleib, Haider, at the family farm in Wasit province, central Iraq. Photo: Abdul Aal Mahdi Chleib

Farmers wait to sell their crops to the government. Photo: PM office

In a year that has been marked by environmental disasters, there is some good news coming out of Iraq.

After years of drought, Iraqi farmers and the government are now optimistic, with expectations of a good harvest of wheat this year, thanks to heavy and unexpected rains.

“God has saved us this season with the heavy rains,” Abdul Aal Mahdi Chleib, a tribal leader and farmer from Wasit province in central Iraq, told The National.

Iraq, which relies heavily on agriculture, has been grappling with water scarcity for several years, with droughts forcing farmers to reduce the size of their cultivated areas.

The lack of water is due to climate change and the construction of dams in neighbouring countries, which have reduced the flow of water to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The situation has been compounded by the mismanagement of water resources and the use of outdated irrigation techniques.

This has had a severe impact on the country's agriculture sector, which employs about a third of Iraq's roughly 43 million people.

The season for winter grains, mainly wheat, begins in October and the harvest is between April and May. Like previous seasons, it began with little rain and dwindling water levels in the rivers.

“There was fear that we would not see enough rain this season, especially as our land is far from the river, nearly 40 kilometres, which makes it hard to pump water,” said Mr Chleib, who planted about 4,000 dunams, or about 400 hectares, this year.

“Thanks to be to God, there was more than enough rain and we didn’t need to bring water from the Tigris river.”

But this growing season was “very expensive”, Mr Chlieb said, because government support in the form of subsidised fertiliser, equipment and fuel “only covered nearly 40 per cent of the needs and we bought fertilisers and equipment from the market”.

Despite that the government increased last year the official price for each tonne — 850,000 Iraqi dinars, or about $600 — the high expenses have left the farmers with low profit margin, he said.

Known as the breadbasket of Iraq, Wasit province has seen the size of its cultivated area shrink from 1.5 million dunams, 150,000 hectares, three years ago to about 500,000 dunams, 50,000 hectares, last year, said Arkan Marush, head of provincial agricultural department.

“The season was tough and challenges were big due to shortage of water and the delay in government support amid a transition period,” he told The National, referring to the year-long political wrangling that delayed the formation of a government after the October 2021 elections.

“The plan for winter season was to cultivate 400,000 dunams, 40,000 hectares, in the province and we didn’t even expect to cover that area due to lack of water.”

But once the rains started in late November, the area of cultivated land has expanded to 912,000 dunams, 91,200 hectares, he said.

Wheat production in Wasit this year is expected to be at least 850,000 tonnes up from nearly 600,000 tonnes last year, Mr Marush said.

Iraq's total wheat production stood at 4.23 million tonnes in the 2021-2022 season, down from 6.23 tonnes the previous season, according to Ministry of Agriculture figures.

Production is expected to hit five million tonnes this year, ministry spokesman Mohammed Al Khuzaie said.

“This will cover most of the local consumption for wheat,” Mr Al Khuzaie said. “This season was beyond expectations in which we didn’t use our strategic water reserve.”

Iraq needs between 4.5 million and five million tonnes of wheat a year to supply its subsidised food programme.

It usually mixes local grain with supplies from Australia, Canada and the US to make up for any shortfalls in local production.

Iraq has faced water shortages for several years. The Ministry of Water Resources said early this year that 2022 was the driest year the country has witnessed since 1930.

The heavy rains and the increase in water flow from Turkey have boosted Iraq's water reserves in dams and lakes by 30 per cent since early this year, the Water Resources Ministry announced this week.

If there will be no enough water flow [in the summer], then the situation will be dire

Raad Al Asadi,
Environmental activist

Endangered marshes

The unexpected heavy rains have also had a positive impact on the country's marshes, which were declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2016 for their biodiversity and ancient history.

The marshes, which were drained by Saddam Hussein in the 1990s and left dry for many years, filled with water once again after the US-invasion that toppled the Iraqi dictator in 2003.

But they suffered a severe decline in recent years because of drought, forcing thousands of its inhabitants to leave for urban areas and losing most of their fish stocks.

However, the heavy rains have reflooded the marshes, bringing life back to the ecosystem. Local and foreign tourists are now returning to witness the beauty of this unique environment.

“The current situation in the marshes is improving, with water covering huge areas again,” said environmental activist Raad Al Asadi, founder of NGO Al Chebayesh.

About 3,000 tourists have been visiting the marshes each week this year, most of them foreigners, Mr Al Asadi said.

He said that many families from the area had also returned to their homes.

But what worries him and the farmers is the summer.

“If there will be not enough water flow, then the situation will be dire,” he said.