SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s agriculture ministry said it would reduce its 2021-2022 winter crop planting area by 50% due to a water shortage.
The available water in dams and reservoirs can only irrigate around 250,000 hectares of land, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Iraq has water shortages due to low rainfalls and restriction of water flows from Iran and Turkey.
The two neighboring countries are holding back water to fill reservoirs, a step that has alarmed Iraq and caused shortages in the country.
Iraq is mostly desert. Its inhabitable areas are fed by the Tigris from Turkey, the Euphrates from Turkey and Syria, and a network of rivers from Iran.
The water ministry said earlier this year that water flows from Iran and Turkey were reduced by 50 percent throughout the summer.
