Water shortages to cut Iraq's irrigated wheat area by half

By Moayed Kenany

Iraq, a major Middle East grain buyer, will cut the irrigated area it plants with wheat by half in the 2018-2019 growing season as water shortages grip the country, a government official told Reuters.

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“The shortage of water resources, climate change and drought are the main reasons behind this decision, our expectation is the area will shrink to half,” [Deputy Agriculture Minister Mahdi] al-Qaisi said in an interview.

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“We expect that the irrigated wheat area falls to half of what it was last year,” Qaisi said, implying plantings of 500,000 hectares.

The cut is expected to lower the country’s wheat production by at least 20 percent, implying a significantly higher import bill Fadel al-Zubi, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Iraq Representative said.

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“Imports will go up as a result of cutting down on production and also as a result of population increase,” Zubi said but he declined to give an exact estimate for size of imports next year.

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