Plan to increase Iraq’s palm trees from 10 to 20 million by 2020

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Agriculture Ministry’s Undersecretary, Mahdi al-Qaisy, revealed on Thursday that the number of palm trees in the country has decreased from 32 million in 1952 to the present number of 10 million, due to wars, salinazation, water scarecity, and the curtails in prices and exports. “Our Ministry is determined to raise the number of palm trees in Iraq to 20 million by 2020, by increasing their planting, support for farms owners and peasants with free palm seedlings, development of agricultural projects, and importing labs for developing palm trees,” Qaisy told IraqiNews.com news agency. He pointed out that the his Ministry had “developed a project to plant the so-called ‘mother palm-trees’ in Najaf Province, to comprise 450 types of dates, on a 100-donum area. In addition, farmers will be supplied open credits, according to the size of their projects, as well as other credits for supplementary projects, such as cooling stores, vinegar and date trees and animal husbandry projects. “The Ministry had granted an Iraqi lady 1.2 billion dinars (1.07 million dollars approx.) to build a plant for developing dates, according to a plan by the Agriculture College,” Qaisy said. Qaisy also noted that his Ministry granted farm owners permissions to purchase their dates with supported prices, reaching 450,000 dinars for a ton of 1st class dates and 350,000 dinars for a ton of 2nd class dates. SKH/SR 2