MOWR: The winter agricultural plan will be critical, a joint committee formed to determine measures

INA-  BAGHDAD

Ministry of Water Resources confirmed Friday that the current year 2022 is the most drought year in Iraq since 1930, and while it announced a decrease in evaporation as a result of low temperatures, it warned that the winter agricultural plan will be very critical if the absence of rain continues.

 The advisor of the Ministry of Water Resources, Aoun Dheab, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "the current year is one of the most drought years that Iraq has experienced since 1930, which is the date of recording hydrological data so far," noting that "this year is severely dry two reasons:  The first is the lack of rainfall for repeated years since 2020 until now, as well as imports that come from neighboring countries, as they are one of the reasons for the severe shortage of water reserves and the possibility of securing the needs of all consumers.

He stressed that "the ministry is trying as hard as possible to take into account the use of storage gradually so as not to be depleted quickly," expressing his hope that "there will be an improvement in storage."

He continued: "For this reason, there has been a directive from the state to import wheat from now on without waiting for the next season in order to meet the needs to secure food security for people by importing wheat under the guidance of the Cabinet to the Ministry of Trade

He noted that "there is a committee from the Cabinet headed by an advisor from the General Secretariat of and the membership of representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources for the purpose of determining the measures to be taken during the current winter."