Baghdad – INA – Amna Al-Salami
Today, Saturday, the Ministry of Agriculture reviewed the progress map in desert land investment projects, and while it confirmed excellent results in 3 governorates, it announced that the Anbar Desert will soon be referred for investment.
Ministry spokesman Muhammad al-Khazali told the (INA): “Giant and excellent steps have been achieved within the framework of investing in the desert, including what was accomplished by the holy shrines in Holy Karbala and in the Holy Najaf, as well as what was accomplished in the Samawah Desert through the Engineer Company within the project of planting more than a million palm trees.” And also the Karbala Agricultural City project through the Sama Karbala Company in the governorate’s desert. These are reliable investment projects that have proven their success and seriousness, and there is continuity in their expansion, and their fruits have begun to be harvested through both plant and animal products.”
He added, “These projects dealt with water scarcity in the desert by moving to mechanization and irrigation techniques through pivot and fixed sprinklers to rationalize and ration water consumption. These projects are successful and large in size, as they occupied a large area of the investment plan throughout Iraq, and they require a safe, stable environment, and this is what verification”.
He continued, “The Anbar Desert is on its way to investment, after years of security conditions that prevented investment and expansion. Anbar represents an attractive environment for investors and has already received requests for investment to follow the example of the desert areas in the provinces of Najaf, Holy Karbala, and Muthanna.”
He continued, “The success of the existing projects in Holy Karbala is what caused the expansion there and in other governorates to provide an environment that encourages the success of the projects and achieving good profits for investors, which is also in the interest of the national economy.”
Regarding the products of these projects, he explained that “the most prominent products are the dates that are grown with high quality, especially in the desert of the holy Karbala projects, which are now exported to the markets. Among their types are the Medjool dates, which are packaged in the size of half a kilogram and sold in the local market, and quantities of them are also exported from abroad as well.” Karbala agricultural projects produce products included in the ration card, including oil.
Al-Khazali pointed out that “desert investment projects went beyond the cultivation stage and began to reap their fruits after large sums of money were spent on them, which created a major, important and unprecedented shift in agricultural investment.”