Iraq Wheat Farmers May Slash Plantings as Turks Fill New Dam
- Wheat imports ‘of course’ need to rise: Iraq ministry official
- USDA has forecast a drop in Iraq’s wheat imports for 2018-19
A farmer works in a field as he harvests wheat in Iraq.
Photographer: Safin Hamed/AFP via Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
Wheat farmers in Iraq, the Middle East’s second-biggest buyer of the grain, may have to sharply reduce plantings for next season’s crop as neighboring Turkey diverts water from the Tigris River for its largest hydroelectric project.
The area planted for Iraq’s 2018-19 wheat crop may drop by as much as 50 percent, Hameed Al-Nayef, the agriculture ministry’s spokesman, said. Iraq will “of course” need to increase imports as a result, Mahdi Al-Qaisi, deputy agriculture minister, said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts a decline in imports for the 2018-19 season.