Naked toes pressed towards the tough trunk of a palm tree, his again supported by a metallic and material harness, Ali Abed begins the climb to the dates above.
In Iraq, the date palm and its bounty are nationwide icons, however they’re being battered by drought.
As soon as referred to as the nation of “30 million palm bushes”, Iraq’s historical date-growing tradition had already suffered from upheaval, particularly throughout the 1980-88 conflict with Iran, earlier than local weather change turned a significant risk.
Within the nonetheless lush countryside of central Iraq, close to Janajah village in Babylon province, a whole lot of date palms stand tall and majestic, surrounded by vines and fruit bushes.
Throughout harvest season, the branches are heavy with clusters of yellow and crimson dates.
Rising at daybreak to keep away from the searing warmth, harvesters climb the palms utilizing solely their higher physique energy, aided by a harness and cord wrapped across the trunk.
“Final 12 months, the orchards and the palm groves have been thirsty; we nearly misplaced them. This 12 months, due to God, we had good water and an excellent harvest,” stated Abed, a 36-year-old farmer from Biramana, a village a number of kilometres (miles) from Janajah.
As soon as on the prime, they decide the ripe dates, filling baskets which might be lowered to the bottom and emptied into basins, that are then loaded onto lorries.
Abed famous, nevertheless, that the harvest is way smaller now — about half of what it was. He as soon as collected greater than 12 tonnes however now brings in simply 4 or 5.
Abed criticised the dearth of presidency help, saying aerial insecticide campaigns should not sufficient.
– ‘Was paradise’ –
Iraq has spent over a decade attempting to revive the date palm, a significant financial asset and nationwide image.
Authorities and spiritual establishments have launched programmes and mega-projects to encourage tree planting and development.
An agriculture ministry spokesperson advised the official INA information company final month that, “for the primary time because the Eighties”, the variety of date palms had risen to “greater than 22 million”, up from a low of simply eight million.
Throughout the Iran-Iraq Warfare, palm groves have been razed in huge areas alongside the border to stop enemy infiltration.
At this time, dates are Iraq’s second-largest export product after oil, which dominates export revenues and generates greater than $120 million, in keeping with the World Financial institution.
In 2023, Iraq exported round 650,000 tonnes of dates, official statistics present.
But round Janajah, many palm bushes lie useless and decapitated.
“All these palm bushes are useless as a result of drought; the entire area is struggling”, stated 56-year-old farmer Maitham Talib.
“Earlier than, we had water. Folks irrigated abundantly. Now, we’d like sophisticated equipment”, he stated, observing the harvest.
The United Nations has labelled Iraq one of many 5 international locations on the planet most weak to among the results of local weather change.
The nation has endured 4 consecutive years of drought, although this 12 months noticed some reduction with winter rainfall.
Alongside rising temperatures which have hit 50 levels Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in summer time and declining rainfall, Iraq additionally faces falling river ranges, blamed on dams constructed upstream by Iran and Turkey.
Kifah Talib, 42, lamented the sluggish devastation wrought by the drought.
“It was paradise: apple, pomegranate, citrus bushes and vines — the whole lot grew right here”, he stated.
