Dams, drought turning Iraqi farms to desert, forcing food imports
06-22-2009
Four-year drought, plus dams in Turkey, Syria, Iran drop water levels in Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, endangering Iraqi agriculture and destroying habitat for vipers, which now plague people, cattle. Farmers leaving land for cities, pushing country to import more food, though in 1950s it was one of few regional cereal-exporting countries. Drop in oil prices cuts budget for measures to increase water use efficiency.
Read the story at The Independent (UK)
Tags: Abdul Latif Rashid, Ali al-Ghazali, Cerastes ceraste, Chabaysh, Desert Cobra, Desert Horned Viper, Dhi Qar, Diwaniyah, Echis carinatus, Euphrates, Greater Zaab river, irrigation, Jabar Mustafa, Mesopotamia, Minister of Water Resources, Mohammed Ali Sarham, Saddam Hussein, Saw-Scaled Viper, Sumerians, Walterinnesia aegyptia, Water Resources Ministry, water scarcity, Wissam al-Assadi
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