Iraq ranks fourth in the world in the production of dates
Iraq ranks fourth in the world in the production of dates
Saturday May 1, 2021 | 10:04 am
The Ministry of Agriculture announced, on Saturday, that Iraq has gradually regained its previous position at the top of the dates producing countries and that it is ranked fourth, confirming that its domestic production has reached 735 thousand tons .
Ministry spokesman Hamid Nayef said, “The country has completed the process of exporting the last meal of the date crop for the past year to abroad, with a number of nearly 600,000 tons of various types,” stressing, “The country ranks fourth in the global sequence of producing countries .”
Nayef added that “the Ministry of Agriculture has a supportive role in recovering palm groves, which currently number 17 million, by adopting the decision to prevent the import of dates and molasses during the year 2019, which provided a great impetus for the Iraqi farmer to pay attention to and develop these orchards .”
He pointed out that “the ministry raised the price of buying dates from farmers to 700 thousand dinars per ton instead of 200 thousand dinars, in addition to logistical support represented in combating palm pests and periodically spraying pesticides,” explaining that “the volume of local consumption of dates amounts to 150 to 200 thousand tons. Annually, which is what prompted the ministry to export the remaining amount of production .
Nayef added that “dates were exported to India, Turkey, Syria, the UAE and Bangladesh, as well as to some European and American markets.”
aynaliraqnews.com
