In Iraq, water crisis leaves farmers clinging to sidr trees

FijiTimes

In Iraq, water crisis leaves farmers clinging to sidr trees

By Mohammed Aty BASRA (Reuters) – Faced with a failing date palm business due to scarce resources, Iraqi farmer Ismail Ibrahim has planted “sidr”, or jujube, trees which require far less water during an irrigation crisis. Iraq is part of the “Fertile Crescent”, arable land sweeping from the Mediterranean to the Gulf which has been farmed for thousands of years. Today, the landscape has been devastated by upstream damming of the main two rivers, …