Irrigated Agriculture

Water is the lifeblood of agriculture.  It's is a precious resource, especially in Iraq! The Tigris and Euphrates rivers run through Iraq, creating some beautiful alluvial valleys....where agriculture began!!!  As I fly over the country, I'm amazed at the amount of desert!!  Iraq is about the size of California, and a full 40% of it's land area is covered in desert!!  That is a lot of barren land.  

Recently I had the chance to visit a farmer's association outside of Baghdad that is trying to rehabilitate a pumping station.  Water from the river is lifted up, approximately 60 ft vertical, to feed into the irrigation system that provides water to 50,000 acres.  It's a large project, by Iraqi standards.  I think that I understood the irrigation system to be about 40 years old, and in a sad state of repair.  The picture in the middle shows the interior of the pump station.  The equipment on the right are the electric motors that turn the pumps, that lift the water up to the irrigation project canals, like the one shown in the lower photo.  The electric motors are powered by a couple of huge generators, because electrical power isn't reliable (like all of Iraq).  So, the farmers that rely on the water, have to pool their resources to buy fuel to power the generators, that then power the electric motors...that power the pumps....oh boy, there are a lot of moving parts!!!!

Check out the two Iraqis shown in that photo...they work at the pump station, and had evidently just come out of the water.  They have on their swimsuits and were still dripping wet.  Just after I took this picture, one of them opened an electrical panel and was flipping switches....still dripping wet and barefoot!!!  Evidently, OSHA has not found Iraq!!!!  

The picture at top shows some of the Iraqi farmers on the left, our BBA (bi-lingual, bi-cultural advisor) and one of our ag people.  They're walking along, holding a conversation with the help of the BBA who interprets.  Except for the clothing, it could be a scene from the States.

The photo at the bottom is of the irrigation canal.  Many of the canals are not lined in concrete.  I was glad to see this one with a concrete lining.  Notice the fields off in the distance on the right.  We walked to the field and learned that the corn was planted by hand.  It was at a much lower plant population than we'd see in a typical corn field in the States.  The field in the foreground was soybeans, also planted by hand.