APPROPRIATE AGRICULTURE INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD

< No. 73 >

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Agriculture and farmers in Kurdish region <Part 1>

New Series

Kurdish agriculture

As introduced in AAINews volume 70, the three prefectures (Erbil, Suleimania and Dohuk) in the Kurdish region in north Iraq have autonomous status and have seen their own unique development. In the past, the Kurdish people went through harsh periods in Iraq and in neighboring countries. However, after the former Iraq regime collapsed, although it is not perfect, the Kurdish region is developing rapidly within stable political situation and public order as well as with foreign investments. In these circumstances, the Kurdistan Regional Government has been actively supporting the farming population both financially and technically with the aim of agricultural development, which is the main regional industry.

The Kurdish region’s topography is characterized by plains with an altitude of less than 300m in the Erbil prefecture and the south western part of the Suleimania prefecture. In the south of Dohuk and from the central part of Erbil to the central part of Suleimania, the scenery is dominated by gentle hills. In the border areas with Iran and Turkey, the mountain ranges rise over 3,000m and their southern slopes are steep. The precipitation in the Kurdish region varies immensely, ranging from 400mm per year in the arid south to 1,000 mm in the mountainous areas in the north. Iraq in general has sufficient precipitation and a varied topography with many different types of soil. Compared to southern Iraq, the northern areas, including the Kurdish region, enjoy relatively fertile soil. In the Kurdish region, from the southern plain to the gentle hills, rain-fed grain cultivation (mainly wheat) is predominant. In the areas with abundant water, vegetable cultivation using underground water irrigation is common. In the sloping areas, fruit cultivation is widespread. In this way, various forms of farming are practiced, making the most of the varied climate and topographical conditions. In addition, livestock farming by grazing is popular and it is a major source of cash

income for farmers.

In this kind of environment, agriculture has high potential to grow in the Kurdish region. It is therefore one of the most important industries for the re- construction of Iraq. At the same time, agriculture can act as an important link between the Iraq central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to continue their friendly relationship. The Kurdish region used to be the bread basket of Iraq, however due to the long years of fighting and exodus of farmers and technocrats, the production has not reached the past high levels. However, the Kurdistan Regional Government is seeing reconstruction of the agricultural industry as a pillar for the new autonomous region, and is directing various forms of support into the agricultural field.

In this series, we will introduce the current situations and issues surrounding agriculture in the Kurdish region, dealing separately with the fields of grain production, vegetable cultivation and fruit cultivation. We will introduce the voices of farmers and local technicians which we gathered through local interviews. Moreover, by introducing the cultivation processes, we would like to touch upon the Kurdish people’s spirit and their living environment.

Agricultural land around Ebil (taken from the air) Hilly agricultural lands in the Kurdish areas

トルコ

イラン

Dohuk シリア

Erbil

Suleimania

Baghdad

Kurdistan autonomous region in Iraq

Iraq

Iran Turkey

Syria

APPROPRIATE AGRICULTURE INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD

< No. 74 >

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Agriculture and farmers in Kurdish region <Part 2>

Kurdish Grains The main grain production in the Kurdish region consists of wheat and barley. Wheat is the most important grain and is the staple food of Iraqis. In restaurants, a large amount of Iraqi flat bread (naan) is served – so much in fact that it is impossible to finish. On the other hand, barley is mainly used as livestock feed. In this part, we would like to introduce what we learned in Erbil related to wheat cultivation.

Wheat production in the Kurdish region is mainly rain-fed, making use of the region’s relatively abundant rainfall. However, rain dependent cultivation is heavily influenced by rainfall (quantity and patterns). As a result, both cultivation area and yields have a large annual variation. The 20-year data accumulated since 1980 shows variations between 200,000 and 600,000 ha for cultivation area and between 400 and 1,300 kg/ha for production. The actual total yield ranged from 120,000 to 650,000 tons.

In the Kurdish region, wheat is planted in winter. When we visited farmers in May, it was about 2 weeks before the harvest. The main farm work of wheat cultivation consists of plowing, seeding and harvesting. Although sometimes herbicide is applied after plowing and seeding, basically there is not too much to do until harvest. Generally, plowing and harvesting are done using machinery. The use of tractors is also becoming common. Many farmers rent a tractor and combine harvester to deal with plowing and harvesting, while smallholders sow seeds manually. Seed production is often done by farmers themselves collecting their own seed, although the Kurdistan Regional Government distributes seeds upon occasion.

As mentioned earlier, cultivation is heavily dependent on rainfall. Perhaps because there is no guarantee for harvesting, fertilizer use is generally low. The main fertilizer used is urea and DAP (Diammonium phosphate) and we heard that the average use is around 120 kg/ha. The amount also differs depending on the disposable income of the farmers. In the farmland in alluvial lands near rivers with stable water sources and irrigated areas, it is possible to have stable harvest and tasks such as fertilizer application and weeding are done

more meticulously. While rain-fed cultivation can produce around 1 t/ha, in irrigated areas, this can be increased to more than 2-3 t/ha.

Given this, with the Kurdistan Regional Government support, irrigation facilities such as centre pivots have been introduced in recent years. The innovative farmer whom we visited was a full time farmer cultivating wheat in winter and maize in summer, and he was using 6 centre pivots in the 170 ha farmland, which he purchased himself. He seemed to be one of the largest wheat farmers in the Kurdish region. We were told that by introducing the irrigation facility, the yields increased by approximately five times. One aspect which worried us a little bit was related to water management. Determination of water amount for irrigation and irrigation intervals was done only based on the land owner’s empirical knowledge. While it is praiseworthy, technical training on water management would still be beneficial for ensuring water saving and economic efficiency of operation.

We heard that the biggest challenge facing wheat cultivation these days is rust disease. Once rust breaks out, there is a major impact on yields. The Kurdistan Regional Government is making efforts to counter rust, testing rust-resistant varieties from abroad for introduction.

Incidentally, farmers ship wheat to 2 silos in Erbil to distribute the produce around the country. The price for wheat is fixed every year at an officially determined rate throughout Iraq. Wheat is categorized into different classes depending on the quality, degree of dryness and amount of impurity.

A large amount of Iraqi government subsidy is invested in wheat production, supporting farmers to increase their yields. The Iraqi government also guarantees the purchase and price, providing stable income for farmers. In addition, the Iraqi government distributes free wheat to its nationals. In the long run, people may fear that this might establish the farmers’ dependency on subsidies. Nonetheless, Iraq is putting a lot of effort into increasing wheat production and the Kurdish region with rain-fed cultivation possibility is seen as an important wheat production base.

Fields of different varieties of wheat Silo in Erbil

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< No. 75 >

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Agriculture and farmers in Kurdish region <Part 3>

Drips are installed on uneven ground within the greenhouse. It is difficult to produce a fixed quantity of water from each nozzle.

Vegetable cultivation and spread of greenhouses Kurdish people have been cultivating open field vegetables making use of the region’s dry climate which has a marked temperature gap between day and night. The main crops are tomato, cucumber, water melon, melon, onion, cabbage and egg plant. Fresh vegetable salads at town restaurants are very tasty. The cultivation period of open field vegetables is largely from May to November. Water is pumped up from channels for the vegetable fields. Farmlands are demarcated in irregular shapes, with different kinds of vegetables grown in small areas adjoining each other.

According to farmers, problems of vegetable production in the Kurdish region are the lack of shipping opportunities and the undeveloped distribution business infrastructure. Vegetables need to reach consumers as quickly as possible after being collected, but such a sales and transport business is nonexistent. Farmers talked about the necessity of securing transport routes so that products that have particular harvesting periods can reach large consumer areas while the products are still fresh. Also for vegetable cultivation in the Kurdish region, water saving and product quality improvement are important challenges. They have to compete with the high quality vegetables that are imported from neighboring countries such as Turkey and Iran. Lower quality Kurdish products are in an inferior position. Therefore the Kurdistan Regional Government takes measures such as restricting vegetable imports during the harvesting time when a large volume of Kurdish vegetables are available. Under these circumstances in recent years more intensive farming using greenhouses is being introduced even in the Kurdish region aiming for quality improvement and increased production volume. However they have only a small number of years of experience.

According to a farming equipment shop in the area, it was only in 2007 that the first greenhouse was introduced. Then by 2010, between 4,000 and 4,200 greenhouses were set up mainly in Sulaimania. This farming equipment shop has sold 130 greenhouses in Erbil this year. Although

greenhouse cultivation is on the increase, it is still in its early years. Greenhouse materials are mainly from Lebanon and the most often seen size is a 9 m wide and 50 m long facility. They do not have the cooling devices that make use of heat vaporization which are often seen in the Gulf countries. Ventilation is manually operated by opening parts of the plastic walls. With greenhouse cultivation which is sensitive to moisture, disease and pest management is also important. Furthermore, as the ground inside greenhouses is often not properly level, it seems difficult for drip irrigation nozzles to release a set amount of water. It looked to us that it would be possible to increase yields with just easy technological improvements.

The Kurdistan Regional Government is very positive about introduction of greenhouses, and places this as a pillar of its agricultural extension strategy. It provides farmers with greenhouses free of charge to test extension potential, and gives technical support for cultivation. Greenhouse equipment companies are also active in providing technical support and training in the areas of seedling sales, determination of right quantities of water, mixing ratios of liquid fertilizer, cultivation methods and disease and pest control. The local agricultural research institute is also conducting research for improving production and techniques by conducting experiments on greenhouse cultivation.

However, there are many challenges. The agriculture research institute could not even produce data on yields from experimental cultivation when interviewed. Only one farmer among many interviewed, could provide clear precise answers to similar questions. When it comes to farm management, being able to calculate the balance between the investment amount and income (production volume and sales price) is highly important for planning future expansion of facilities. In addition, there is another problem related to adverse effects of continuous cropping. So far, as it has been only so many years since greenhouses were introduced in the area, there is no case of serious adverse effects from continuous cropping. And farmers are not aware about the potential problem. Even a corporate technician who manages dozens of large scale greenhouses proudly responded to us, saying “continuous annual tomato cultivation is suitable here.” On the other hand, government researchers show strong concerns about problems from continuous cropping, but have no sufficient knowledge to develop counter measures. They expressed their strong desire to learn about measures to deal with continuous cropping issues as applied in Japan.

Open field vegetable cultivation: Farmlands are divided into irregular shapes.

Greenhouses are increasing rapidly. They open part of the greenhouse for ventilation.

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< No. 76 > May 1, 2013

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Agriculture and farmers in Kurdish region <Part 4>

Fruits production in Iraq The Kurdish region is located in the northern part of Iraq. Using the arid and cool climate, fruit production is a main agricultural activity. Fruit is cultivated mainly on slopes in the mountain areas.

The most commonly grown fruit is apple, however walnut, apricot, pomegranate, peach and grapes are also widely cultivated. According to the farmers interviewed, apple and peach are for eating, apricot and grapes are for dried products, and pomegranate is used for juice. There is a variety of nuts sold in town markets.

Although I am not a fruit farming expert, the orchards looked as if they were relatively well looked after. Pruning, branches training, fruits thinning, weeding and application of agro chemicals are all commonly practiced. Fruits seem to be a comparatively lucrative crop. However, in the Kurdish region, fruits are largely grown in the northern part on the slopes. This makes large scale commercialization difficult. Under this circumstance, the farmers in the mountainous areas, where it is not possible to own a large piece of land, are trying to increase their income by switching to fruit cultivation from wheat cultivation. In other words, fruit farming provides promising income opportunities in the mountainous areas.

However, fruit farming in the Kurdish region has been severely affected by long years of fighting. In particular, the mountain areas are where fighting was especially severe, and farmers fled to Iraq and neighboring areas leaving their farms unattended. In the walnuts production area in Dohuk near the Turkish border, many people fled the area from fighting from 1975 until the early 1990s. During these years, their farms were unattended. I heard that people still cannot come back to their villages, and they live in nearby villages and come to their own villages just for harvesting the nuts. It is hard to live only with farming income. People are sustaining their livelihoods with supplemental income from pensions and temporary labor in the army.

In this situation, I visited an area where the Kurdistan Regional Government is providing support for expanding and extending fruit production. In the northern part of Dohuk, 10 apple cultivation project sites have been established, providing training for 250 farmers. In the neighboring area, apples introduced from Spain were provided to farmers for performance test. Farmers in the outskirts of the capital were growing apples and pomegranate for juice, while conducting experimentation of apples on part of their farms. Moreover, at the Ain Kawa Research Center in Erbil, experimentation is continuing targeting some 180 introduced varieties of apples and grapes.

Fruit cultivation takes a long time from introduction to

harvest. It also requires management throughout the year. As for apple cultivation, the extent of pruning and fruits thinning differed from farmer to farmer. Agro chemicals were used everywhere. Compost and chemical fertilizers were commonly applied after flowering. Irrigation is used between March and November, and in most cases well water is used in Erbil. In mountainous areas in Dohuk, there were some old irrigation channels along the steep slopes, however most of them are not maintained.

One of the challenges of fruit farming, like vegetable cultivation, is marketing. Generally, in the Kurdish region, fruit production areas are in the northern and western mountain areas far away from the consumers. Yet, transport of products is mostly done by farmers themselves. I never heard of any cases where a middleman was used for distribution. Farmers have to transport their products to consumer areas and sell them in the markets by themselves. Many small scale farmers do not have their own means of transport, and it is a huge burden for them to have to sell their own product. In addition, high quality import fruits also pose serious threats. The Kurdish fruit industry will not grow unless the quality of fruits improves to the level that is competitive with imported products, and unless solutions are found for improving the product distribution system. The area has the right environmental conditions for fruit cultivation. Therefore, if done properly, there is a good possibility for future growth of the industry.

Fruit farm in a mountainous area

Apple experimentation for introducing a new variety

APPROPRIATE AGRICULTURE INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD

< No. 77 > August 1, 2013

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Agriculture and farmers in Kurdish region <Part 5>

Iraqi farmers’ characters and promotion of agriculture As discussed in AAINews No. 70, Kurdish farmers are very open and kind, and warmly welcomed us although we were sudden visitors. The Kurdish people in general seem to have warm feelings for the Japanese people.

This open and kind nature of the Kurdish people is also felt in their farming activities but in a different way. In other words, many residents who were in farming seemed to have a very weak notion of profits. They almost never had a clear answer to our questions such as “how much is your profit?” and “how much do you produce?” Although many Kurdish residents are farmers, it seems difficult for many of them to sustain livelihoods from farming income alone. A rain-fed wheat farmer told me with a smile, “The rain was too variable this year and there is no hope for much of a harvest.” We also often heard about getting a job with Peshmerga when farming income is not sufficient. Peshmerga is the traditional name for the army of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Many of the Kurdish farmers have large families. In addition to farming income, they sustain household economy with parents’ pensions, non-farming incomes and income from their children brought in through various types of work. Many of the farmers supplement their income through temporary work with Peshmerga. It seems that the government is supporting farmers by offering such opportunities. Although I don’t know the details, it seems that they can join the army easily.

On the other hand, in order to improve the unstable situation of agricultural production, the government is making a great effort with agricultural extension. According to extension officers, they conduct a number of extension activities, ranging from lectures targeting farmers, farm visits, and demonstration of farming methods and technologies at demonstration farms. However, the impacts of these efforts are feared to be not sufficient. I heard that extension methods are mainly through training at extension organizations and demonstration at farms. The target farmers tend to be those who are in leadership positions, and information tends not to reach small scale farmers. We also could not find any agricultural extension materials such as pamphlets and cultivation manuals in farmers’ houses.

According to the discussion with the Kurdish extension organizations, it seems that the contents of lectures are totally up the discretion of the lecturers. Lecture materials are not kept at the extension organization. Given that some farmers are illiterate, it is necessary to develop extension materials and establish a distribution system.

Under these circumstances, extension activities conducted by farming material companies seem to play an important role. We introduced in the past the cases whereby farming material companies offer some new technology to farmers when they sell materials. There seems to be a form of cooperation in part between the seller and user of the materials. We also heard that greenhouse material sales shops were planning to develop a cultivation guidance manual. In addition, they offer machinery and equipment that is necessary for new crop production to farmers who don’t have financial resources to purchase them. In return, their farms work as demonstration farms to advertise the companies and their machinery.

Another example is related to vegetable cultivation extension activities supported by an NGO. The NGO provided materials and employed local farming technicians and requested the participation of local farmers. Farmers provide a certain amount of their labor for sustaining the farming plot, and divide profits from the harvests. According to the NGO staff, the biggest difficulty they had was to persuade the elders to participate. Young people participate in this kind of joint work relatively readily, but for the elderly, it is difficult for them to understand this kind of cooperative cultivation. However, I believe this kind of effort is a good example for future extension activity.

In recent years, research organizations that only had a limited amount of involvement in extension activities, are now actively participating in extension activities. It is important for research organizations which promote cultivation techniques to be fully involved in extension work. However, extension work and research activities have different viewpoints. Therefore it is important to support bridging of the two kinds of activities. We hope to continue to support the warm and friendly people in their quest to be self-sufficient farmers in the bread basket of the Kurdish region in Iraq.

NGO cultivation activities in amountainous area

Hearing from fruit farmers Farmers in traditional costume

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< No. 78 > November 1, 2013

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Agriculture and farmers in Kurdish region <Part 6>

Future stability and promotion of agriculture in the Kurdish regions

Through this series we introduced the natural environment of the Kurdish regions in Iraq, as well as agricultural practices and situations surrounding agriculture, and the Kurdish farmers’ character.

Presently, the Kurdish regions in Iraq are granted autonomous status, and they have been exploring their own development. Agriculture is a major pillar in their effort. On the other hand, many Kurdish people fled the war to other countries. It is not only us who is feeling that the exodus of technocrats has become a major barrier for agricultural development in the country. To date, many Kurdish people we met in the Gulf Region and other countries are contributing to the host countries’ development working as foreign technicians. At the same time, this is causing a dilemma that in the Kurdish regions, the lack of technicians is hampering regional development.

As mentioned in this series, the Kurdish region has a high potential for agricultural development. However, the shortage of qualified technicians is a major limiting factor for development of the sector. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been making the effort to increase productivity and quality of agriculture through research at agricultural experiment stations and through extension activities. However, these actions have not yielded sufficient results. One reason for this is the insufficient cooperation with and support for farmers in a range of sectors such as production, shipping, processing and sales. In particular, most vegetable and fruit products are inferior to those produced in neighboring regions. Markets and necessary facilities are not sufficiently secured. In addition, the transportation system is poor, causing deterioration of product quality before it reaches consumers. In future, measures against diseases and pests in continuous vegetable cultivation in greenhouses are expected to become a major challenge.

Currently, JICA is implementing the Project on Horticulture Technology Improvement and Extension in KRG as part of its support for the Kurdish regions, dispatching experts and organizing training courses. The technician who supported surveys which an AAI staff was involved in, is also working in the project implementation. This type of support aiming to develop human resources is effective for nurturing capable technicians like him. Moreover, as the Kurdish people have a very friendly attitude towards Japan, support from Japan can result in a large impact. It is therefore considered that this type of support is clearly worth continuing as part of Japan’s support for promoting Iraq’s agriculture.

Persecution of the Kurdish people and in-fighting among the Kurds cannot be said to have fully ended. At present, the situation surrounding autonomous governance is also complicated by the influence of the old powers. In Erbil and Duhok, the old Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) remains very influential. The Kurdistan Worker’s Party (KPP) is strong in Sulaymaniyah (as of 2010). We strongly hope that Iraq’s Kurdish region will achieve development as a bread basket of Iraq, and with a peaceful and good environment to live in, by swiftly resolving some of the unstable elements in its politics and society.

We are fully aware that it is more easily said than done. However, we feel very fortunate and fulfilled to have been part of the support activities in the Kurdish region, which is still a very far away “country” for most of us. We hope that the relationship between the Kurdish region and Japan, and the relationship between Japan and Iraq will deepen in years to come. We are convinced that our support for the agricultural sector in Iraq is playing a role in international contribution and cooperation, and for deepening the friendship between Iraq and Japan, through our day-to-day and face-to-face interaction between the Japanese experts and counterparts working jointly on the ground on farms.

Branches drooping with the weight of apricot fruits Kurdish friends