Iraq's date palm industry is hit by drought

Recently, Iraq's date palm industry is facing severe challenges. As an important economic crop in Iraq and the country's second largest export product after oil, date palms are now severely damaged due to frequent droughts.

In Janaja Village, Babylon Province in central Iraq, the once lush scene of date palms full of fruits is no longer there. According to local villagers, many date palms around have died due to drought, and the entire area has been affected. Except for the orchards along the river, most of the date palms in other orchards have died of drought. Official Iraqi statistics show that in 2023, Iraq exported about 650,000 tons of dates. However, now the date palm industry is suffering from a serious drought impact.

Local villager Abed said that this year the rain is relatively abundant and the date harvest is still good, but it is only about half of what it used to be. In the past, the annual yield of date palms could reach 12 tons or more. Now the annual output is only 4 to 5 tons. Iraq has been suffering from drought for four consecutive years. Although there was an increase in rainfall last winter, the drought trend in the entire country has not been alleviated. The United Nations has listed Iraq as one of the five countries in the world most vulnerable to certain impacts of climate change.

The Iraqi government has vigorously supported the date palm industry. After efforts, the number of date palms in Iraq has recovered to more than 22 million this year. But industry insiders point out that more frequent extreme high temperatures and droughts may pose a huge challenge to the revival of Iraq's date palm cultivation industry. At present, how to deal with the impact of drought on the date palm industry and ensure the sustainable development of the date palm industry has become an urgent problem for the Iraqi government and relevant departments. All parties are also continuously paying attention to the future trend of this industry.