Success of the first experience of strawberry crop in Basra

Announced for Agricultural Services in Basra on Saturday, for the success of the crop strawberries for the first time in the province, and as shown the Department of Agriculture is ready to support wishing the implementation of similar projects, considered the Agricultural Engineers Association experience a step toward diversification of agricultural production in categorical desert from Basra.

The Executive Director of Al-Faris Agricultural Services Jafar Shaddad Knight in an interview for "Alsumaria News", "the company has succeeded for the first time in Basra, the production yield of strawberry by 275 kg a day after a 30 protected farm for this purpose within the laboratory farm is located in the area of Safwan, about 60 km west of Basra, "noting that" the company recently began Brphi local markets in the provinces of Basra, Dhi Qar and Maysan strawberry crop. "

He Persia that "the experiment were not adventure business, but carried out after the company has deployed a team of agronomists to Turkey and Cyprus to prepare a study on the possibility of cultivation of strawberries in Basra," explaining that "the study recommended the implementation of the experiment, and in the light of which was contracted with two Turkish and Lebanese Our company processing large numbers of seedlings imported. "

"The seedlings were imported from the United States, the Netherlands and Spain," adding that "the strawberry seedlings imported from Spain was the best in terms of abundance and size of fruit production and quality of taste."

In turn, said agricultural engineer in the company executing the project Khalid Abbad Rashid in an interview for "Alsumaria News", "The company has been in the past month selling per kilogram of strawberries at 15 thousand dinars, but had a few days ago to be reduced to five thousand dinars to be comparable to the price of strawberries imported from neighboring countries. "

For his part, considered the captain of Agricultural Engineers in Basra, Alaa al-Badran that "the cultivation of strawberries in Basra, a unique experience," explaining that "the success of the experiment and dissemination will help to diversify agricultural production in the absolute desert of the province, which depends on the cultivation of tomato crop first place."

According to the governor of Basra behind Abdul-Samad, "the local government confirmed the success of strawberry cultivation in the province," saying in an interview for "Alsumaria News" that "this achievement agriculture as a starting point for the development of the agricultural situation in Basra investment effort."

For his part, director of media in the Agriculture Department of Basra, "The Directorate plans to disseminate the experience of growing strawberries in absolute desert of the province by supporting and encouraging farmers to implement projects of this kind," adding that "the Directorate is considering the possibility of granting agricultural loans for those wishing to grow strawberries" .

Initiated in 2009 and the U.S. Agency for International Development through the program (development) with the support crop strawberries (strawberries) for the first time in Iraq, and emphasized management of the program in 2010, the success of the experiment in the provinces of Diyala, Najaf, Karbala and Wasit.

Noted that the consumption of strawberries in Iraq is relatively low compared to fruits and other crops, oranges, pomegranates, apples and sophistication (watermelon), and most of the strawberries consumed locally are imported from Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and the latter occupies the first rank worldwide in the cultivation of strawberries, followed by Germany and then Italy, then Japan.

The strategic plan for the development of Basra, which began to apply the local government after the middle of last year 2011 and extends until the year 2015 that the province has at least 800 thousand acres of arable land, and constitute this space about 10% of the total area of the province, whereas the exploiter of The area is 500 thousand acres.

The plan stresses that contributed to preparing the United Nations to highlight the threats faced by the agricultural sector "increased salinity of the Shatt al-Arab with the increasing threat progress tongue saline, and compete with imported agricultural products from neighboring countries, desertification and creeping sand dunes on agricultural lands, and comprehensiveness of the law of conservation of wealth hydrocarbon in light of the large number of oil reservoirs. "

Characterized by the province of Basra, about 590 km south of Baghdad, the diversity of agricultural activities where, where is famous for categorical Desert which is located within the district of Zubair crops, seasonality of the most important of tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, yellow and red, as was found in the elimination of many forest trees, tamarisk, which disappeared years before due to neglect.

With unique Faw port on the Gulf planting shrubs henna are found in the northern areas of the province, hundreds of wheat fields, either in the southern and eastern areas she can where palm groves are concentrated its presence heavily on both sides of the Shatt al-Arab near the banks of rivers branching from it, so that there is in Basra are currently about three million palm trees, but that the problem of penetration of the tongue salt coming from the Gulf in the course of the Shatt al-Arab has doubled in the last years of the deterioration of the status of agriculture in the districts of FAO and Abu Fertile (south), Shatt al-Arab (east), while not affected farms in the district of Zubair (west ) because it is located within the categorical desert and its dependence on groundwater.