10/04/2018

IRAQ'S PRIZED DATE PALMS?

SWEET Iraqi dates adorn tables in homes across the country, but the fruit tree and  national symbol  has come under grave threat from conflict and drought.

Shopping in the  southern city  of Basra, Leila only buys ''the queen of dates'' - those produced in the surrounding province.

Her husband Mehdi, 68, said the couple have the sweet fruit ''every lunchtime, and also for snacks between meals.''

The pair devours a kilo [two pounds] over two or three days, at a cost of 5,000 dinars, or just over $4 [3.40 euros].

But high unemployment and price hike means not all families can afford such luxury.

For trader Salem Hussein, who has been selling dates for 40 years, the decline set in long ago   -before the drought and even the country's series of deadly conflicts.

The  1980-88   Iran-Iraq war decimated the groves of date palms on Iraqi soil, he said, dressed in a sky blue robe with a skullcap.

The majority of trees lining the  Shait-al-Arab waterway, marking the border between the two countries, were incinerated by shells and rockets.

Hussein once dreamt of  expanding palm groves and introducing even more varieties than the  450  already boasted by Iraq, which used to be known as  the land of   ''30 million palm trees.''

The country's dates were long exported  ''to the  United States, Japan and India,'' recalled the  66-year old.

''We thought of developing and doubling the number of  palms, but the figure only falls,''

Official estimates out the decline at  50 percent   of the  pre-1980 numbers.

''We hoped for a better future   -and it got even worse,'' Hussein lamented.

Iraqi agriculture     has been especially    hard hit by drought this year., resulting in an official ban on the growing of rice and cereals which require a lot of water and the  deaths of thousands of animals.

The operational research post on Iraq, History and sufferings  continues.[Agencies]

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