(Baqubah, Iraq) - The date palm tree has long been the cherished symbol of Iraq. Dates are the second largest export after oil. 
During the 1950s, Iraq’s palm orchards produced more than 600 varieties of dates and, by some estimates, accounted for nearly 80% of the world’s supply. During the country’s golden era there were more than 30 million fruit producing trees.
But wars, neglect, improper drainage, and the scurvy of the dreaded Dobas bug left the industry in shambles.
Particularly hard hit was southern Iraq where 16 million date palm trees were cut down, burned and transformed into battlefields during the Iran-Iraq was in the 1980s.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) stepped in last spring and distributed 4,800 date palm offshoots that will produce commercially valuable dates. The offshoots were given to 120 farmers in Muthanna, Basrah and the Basrah Marshlands, with technical assistance from USDA to ensure proper planting and cultivation.
In four years each farmer could realize a gross income boost of $7,000 per year.
The crop was facing another critical challenge - the pesky little Dobas bug which secretes a sticky liquid that interferes with the photosynthesis process.
This past May, Coalition partners and the Iraqi Department of Agriculture began an aggressive pesticide spraying campaign.
“We contracted Moldovan helicopters, painted them with Iraqi flag colors and outfitted the Moldovan pilots with Iraqi uniforms so we could safely treat thousands of acres of trees,” said Lieutenant Colonel Chris Johnson. The results have been astounding. After only one season of spraying, the date crop yield has increased by as much as 70%.
Baqubah was the venue for a mid-September dates festival where farmers, agriculture ministers and the public gathered to celebrate 84 varieties of a bountiful harvest.
Aboud Ahdim Abbas Mohammad, 56, is continuing a family date farming tradition that began in the 1880s.
“The spraying saved 75 of my trees and I’ve seen an 85% increase in date yields over last year’s harvest,” said Mohammad through a translator.
While grateful for the harvest, Mohammad is equally grateful for his life. Gunmen attacked him while he and his sons were harvesting. Thanks to a pistol that he keeps hidden in his traditional clothing he was able to fight his way to safety but not before taking a bullet to the arm.
Attending a visible festival might intimidate some farmers. But not Mohammad.
“Please take my picture. Tell them my name. This is my country and I will not be afraid.”
Photos and story by Paul McKellips, U.S. Department of State, Public Affairs GO Team, on assignment in Baqubah, Iraq.
