Editing Economy of Iraq (section)

=== Agriculture ===
Agriculture contributes just 3.3% to the [[gross national product]] but employs a fifth of the labor force.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iraq/|title=Middle East :: Iraq — The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|access-date=2019-03-31|archive-date=8 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308160827/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/iraq/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Historically, 50 to 60 per cent of Iraq's arable land was under cultivation.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeGZBQAAQBAJ&q=Historically%2C+50+to+60+percent+of+Iraq%E2%80%99s+arable+land+has+been+under+cultivation.&pg=PA176|title=Iraq Country Study Guide Volume 1 Strategic Information and Developments|last= |first= |date=2012-03-03|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=9781438774633|language=en}}{{self-published source|date=July 2021}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}} Under the UN [[Oil for Food program]], Iraq imported large quantities of [[grain]]s, [[meat]], [[poultry]], and [[dairy product]]s. In 1981, the government abolished its [[collective farming]] program. During the Gulf War, Iraqi agriculture was disrupted physically and suffered from [[economic sanctions]] imposed by the United Nations. Imports were curtailed, petroleum exports were cut off and agricultural production with potential military application was halted. The Iraqi government responded by monopolizing grain and oilseed marketing, imposing production quotas, and instituting a [[Public Distribution System]] for basic foodstuffs. By mid-1991, the government supplied a "basket" of foodstuffs that provided about one-third of the caloric daily requirement and cost consumers about five percent of its market value.  With subsidies for agricultural inputs diminished, the government's prices failed to cover their costs. Tax on agricultural production reached 20 to 35 percent by the mid-1990s. In October 1991 the Baghdad regime withdrew personnel from the northern region controlled by two Kurdish parties. [[Kurdistan Region]] was described as "... a [[market economy]] essentially left alone by a fragile governing structure, but heavily influenced by substantial international humanitarian aid flows."<ref>Randy Schnepf, Iraq Agriculture and Food Supply:  Background and Issues, (Washington DC:  Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 7 June 2004) p 37.</ref>

In December 1996, under an "Oil for Food Program" negotiated with the United Nations, Iraq started exporting petroleum and used the proceeds to import foodstuffs. Grain imports averaged $828 million from 1997 to 2001, an increase of over 180 percent from the previous five-year period. Due to foreign competition, Iraqi production declined (29 percent for wheat, 31 percent for barley, and 52 percent for maize). Because the government had neglected the production of forage crops, fruits, vegetables, and livestock other than poultry, those sectors were less buffeted by international affairs. Nevertheless, they were affected by severe drought, an outbreak of [[Cochliomyia|screwworm]], and an [[epizootic]] of [[foot-and-mouth disease]]<ref>Beer, Sam. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ty5oDQAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 The United States' Program for Agriculture in Post-Invasion Iraq] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412055453/https://books.google.com/books?id=ty5oDQAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 |date=12 April 2023 }}. 2016.</ref> As the Oil for Food Program expanded to cover more agricultural inputs and machinery, the productivity of Iraqi agriculture stabilized around 2002.

After the U.S. invasion in March 2003, many Iraqis became dependent on government-subsidized food. The US-funded agricultural reconstruction program thus focused on increased productivity under the aegis of Agricultural Reconstruction and Development Iraq (ARDI).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dai.com/our-work/projects/iraq-agriculture-reconstruction-and-development-program-iraq-ardi|title=Agriculture Reconstruction and Development Program for Iraq (ARDI)|website=DAI: International Development|access-date=30 August 2018|archive-date=30 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830110113/https://www.dai.com/our-work/projects/iraq-agriculture-reconstruction-and-development-program-iraq-ardi|url-status=live}}</ref> Another program was run by Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) of [[Bethesda, Maryland]]. The restoration of Iraq's irrigation systems was largely funded by [[Bechtel|Bechtel International]].

ARDI conducted trials to improve farming practices and crop varieties of winter cereals (wheat and barley), summer cereals (rice, maize, and sorghum), potatoes, and tomatoes. Feed supplements and veterinary treatments were introduced to increase ovulation, conception, and birth weights of livestock.  Surveys were conducted of poultry growers and apple farmers. Nurseries were established for date palms and grapes. ARDI had projects promoting trade associations and producers' co-ops and supported extension as an appropriate governmental function. The contract eventually cost over $100 million and lasted through December 2006. Under its Community Action Program, USAID also funded an analysis of markets for sheep and wool. It awarded a contract to the [[University of Hawaiʻi|University of Hawaii]] to revitalize [[Agricultural education|higher education in agriculture]]. It awarded a contract for $120 million to the [[Louis Berger Group]] to promote Iraq's private sector, including agriculture.<ref>Beer, Sam. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ty5oDQAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 ''The United States' Program for Agriculture in Post-Invasion Iraq''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412055453/https://books.google.com/books?id=ty5oDQAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 |date=12 April 2023 }}. 2016.</ref>

Starting in 2006, [[Provincial Reconstruction Team]]s were sent in to promote goodwill and sap the insurgency. "PRTs" allowed military commanders to identify local needs and, with few bureaucratic hurdles, to dispense up to $500,000. Civilians from many agencies within the [[U.S. Department of Agriculture]], as well as [[USAID]], served tours on PRTs. Some participants criticized the absence of a national agricultural strategy, or clear direction on the design of projects. Others complained that projects emphasized "American-style, 21st-century [[Agricultural technology|agricultural technologies]] and methodologies..." that were inappropriate for Iraq.<ref>Bernard Carreau, ed. "Lessons from USDA in Iraq and Afghanistan,"  ''Prism'' Vol. 1, No. 3, (September 2011): 139.</ref>

Agricultural production did not rebound from the reconstruction program. According to the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO), between 2002 and 2013, the production of wheat increased 11 percent and milled rice 8 percent, but barley had decreased 13 percent and maize 40 percent. Scaled in "international dollars" (2004-2006 base equaling 100) Iraq's per capita food production was 135 in 2002, 96 in 2007, and 94 in 2012. The agricultural sector shed workers. In those same years, production per worker was 117, 106, and 130, respectively.<ref>"FAOSTAT Country Profiles:  Iraq."  [http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/?iso3=IRQ FAO website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110195631/http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/?iso3=IRQ |date=10 November 2016 }}</ref>

The international [[Oil-for-Food program]] (1997–2003) further reduced farm production by supplying artificially priced foreign foodstuffs. Because of favorable weather conditions, grain production was 22 percent higher than in 2002. Although growth continued in 2004, experts predicted that Iraq would be an importer of agricultural products for the foreseeable future. Long-term plans call for investment in agricultural machinery and materials and more prolific crop varieties—improvements that did not reach Iraq's farmers under the Hussein regime. In 2004, the main crops were wheat, barley, corn, rice, vegetables, dates, and cotton, and the main livestock outputs were cattle and sheep.

The [[Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Iraq|Agricultural Cooperative Bank]], capitalized at nearly 1 G$ - by 1984, targets its low-interest, low-collateral loans to private farmers for mechanization, poultry projects, and orchard development. Large modern cattle, [[dairy farming|dairy]], and poultry farms are under construction. Obstacles to agricultural development include labor shortages, inadequate management and maintenance, salinization, [[urbanization|urban migration]], and dislocations resulting from previous land reform and collectivization programs.

In 2011, an agricultural adviser to the Iraqi government, [[Layth Mahdi]], summarized the forced United States agricultural reconstruction:<blockquote> Before 2003, Iraq had imported about 30 per cent of its food needs annually. The decline in agricultural production after this period, created the need for importing 90 per cent of the food at a cost estimated at more than $12 billion annually. Due to the sudden shift in the agricultural policy from subsidized assistance to an immediate shift to a free market policy, the outcomes led to a decline in production. The observed outcome resulted in many farmers abandoning the land and agriculture. The impact on natural resources results in an exploited and degraded environment leaving the land destitute and the people impoverished, unemployed [and] experiencing a sense of losing their human dignity.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2011/06/08/agricultural-production-iraq%E2%80%99s-best-chance-for-restoring-food-security/|title=Agricultural Production: Iraq's Best Chance for Restoring Food Security|work=Iraq Business News|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en-US|archive-date=23 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023080128/http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2011/06/08/agricultural-production-iraq%E2%80%99s-best-chance-for-restoring-food-security/|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>Importation of foreign workers and increased entry of women into traditionally male labour roles have helped compensate for agricultural and industrial labour shortages exacerbated by the war. A disastrous attempt to drain the southern marshes and introduce irrigated farming to this region merely destroyed a natural food producing area, while concentration of salts and minerals in the soil due to the draining left the land unsuitable for agriculture.<ref name="MarshArabs">{{cite web | url= http://www1.american.edu/ted/MARSH.HTM | title= TED Case Studies: Marsh Arabs | work= Trade Environment Database | publisher= [[American University]] | access-date= 2011-01-14 | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100627142037/http://www1.american.edu/ted/marsh.htm | archive-date= 2010-06-27}}</ref> 

In the Mada'in Qada region east of [[Baghdad]], hundreds of small farmers united to form the [[Green Mada'in Association for Agricultural Development]], an agricultural cooperative that provides its members with [[drip irrigation]] and [[greenhouse]]s as well as access to credit.<ref>{{cite web | last= Habenstreit | first= Linda C. | url= http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/jan10/green.htm | title= Co-op playing key role as Iraq rebuilds farm sector | work= [[Rural Cooperatives]] | date= 10 Jan 2010 | access-date= 17 March 2010 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100304091753/http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/jan10/green.htm | archive-date= 4 March 2010 | url-status= dead }}</ref> 

In recent years, farmers have been confronted with reduced rainfall and high temperatures. Particularly affected are small scale farmers who, unable to withstand lower water levels, are forced to leave their lands in search of different ways to fulfill their livelihoods.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Unfarmed Now, Uninhabited When? Agriculture and climate change in Iraq |url=https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/unfarmed-now-uninhabited-when-agriculture-and-climate-change-in-iraq-621360/ |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=Oxfam Policy & Practice |language=en-US |archive-date=5 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405152033/https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/unfarmed-now-uninhabited-when-agriculture-and-climate-change-in-iraq-621360/ |url-status=live }}</ref>