Iraq's PM Announces Wheat Reserves for One Year
After a successful wheat harvest, Iraq's Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, said the country has enough wheat reserves for one year.
A recent report by the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture indicated that the country, which has a population of 43 million, needs between 4.5 million and 5 million tons of wheat each year.
Since Iraq is experiencing the worst drought in its history, the country's wheat is being grown in desert areas using groundwater instead of decreasing river water.
Abbas Jabr, Iraq's Minister of Agriculture, told Reuters last March that Iraq will produce four million tons of wheat in 2022-2023.
According to Jabr, the increase in production is due to the government's plan to cultivate 4,000 square kilometers in the desert and 2,500 square kilometers elsewhere in Iraq.
Before the war in Ukraine, Iraq produced 4.7 million tons of wheat in 2019, 6.2 million tons in 2020, and about 4.2 million tons in 2021.
Last season, the Iraqi government imported wheat to cover the shortfall due to factors such as water scarcity and desertification.
It is the lack of rain during the winter season that poses the greatest challenge to the production of wheat, rice, and barley in Iraq.
