Iraq's Prized Rice Crop Threatened by Drought

A worker at a rice mill in Iraq's central province of Najaf, where water shortages mean a drastic reduction in the amount that can be cultivated Qassem al-KAABI AFP
A worker at a rice mill in Iraq's central province of Najaf, where water shortages mean a drastic reduction in the amount that can be cultivated Qassem al-KAABI AFP
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Iraq's Prized Rice Crop Threatened by Drought

A worker at a rice mill in Iraq's central province of Najaf, where water shortages mean a drastic reduction in the amount that can be cultivated Qassem al-KAABI AFP
A worker at a rice mill in Iraq's central province of Najaf, where water shortages mean a drastic reduction in the amount that can be cultivated Qassem al-KAABI AFP

Drought is threatening the Iraqi tradition of growing amber rice, the aromatic basis of rich lamb and other dishes, and a key element in a struggling economy.

The long-grained variety of rice takes its name from its distinctive scent, which is similar to that of amber resin. It is used in Iraqi meals including sumptuous lamb qouzi, mansaf and stuffed vegetables, AFP said.

But after three years of drought and declining rainfall, Iraq's amber rice production will be only symbolic in 2022, forcing consumers to seek out imported varieties and leaving farmers pondering their future.

"We live off this land," Abu Rassul says, standing near a small canal that in normal times irrigates his two hectares (five acres) near Al-Abassiya village in the central province of Najaf.

"Since I was a child I have planted amber rice," says the farmer in his 70s, his face wrinkled and unshaven, dressed in a dazzling white dishdasha robe.

"Water enables us to plant every year."

Except for this one.

Normally, rice fields planted in mid-May should stay submerged all summer until October -- but that's a luxury Iraq can no longer allow.

The country's available water reserves "are well below our critical level of 18 billion cubic meters (4.8 trillion gallons)", Shaker Fayez Kadhim, Najaf's water resources manager, told AFP.

Rice drains between 10 and 12 billion cubic meters during its cultivation period of about five months, so it is "difficult to grow rice in Najaf or other provinces because of the high level of water it needs", Kadhim said.

Previously, more than 70 percent of the amber crop was grown in Diwaniyah and neighboring Najaf provinces.

In early May, officials limited total rice crop areas to 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres), in Najaf and Diwaniyah only, according to the agriculture ministry.

The normal quota is 35 times that.

Water shortages have also led to reduced quotas for wheat farmers.

The country's annual rice production had been 300,000 tons (tons), according to Mohammed Chasseb, a senior official in the ministry's planning department.

Iraq is known in Arabic as the "country of the two rivers" -- the Tigris and the Euphrates. But despite those two legendary water sources, the supply of water has been declining for years and the country is classified as one of five most vulnerable to climate change effects and desertification.

The consequences are dire: depleted rivers, more intense sandstorms, declining crop yields -- all of which add to the multiple challenges the country faces after decades of war and insurgency.

- Fearing the worst -
The Tigris and Euphrates, and their tributaries, originate in Turkey and Syria as well as Iran, which dams them upstream. This reduces the flow as they enter Iraq.

Kadhim says the Euphrates has dropped to about one-third of its normal level. He wants "political action" to get more water flowing.

Ahmed Hassoun, 51, president of the Najaf farmers' association, fears the worst.

"There is a risk of seeing rice cultivation disappear for lack of water," he said, blaming authorities.

"We know Iraq will have a shortage of rain in the coming years," said Hassoun, an agricultural engineer. Despite that, nothing has been done to "modernise the irrigation system", he complains.

But agriculture is not the only sector where the infrastructure needs upgrading in a country grappling with corruption and a financial crisis after decades of war.

Hassoun lamented that Iraq has become "a market for all its neighbors", a reference to the deluge of Iranian and Turkish agricultural product imports.

Last year, Iraq's own agricultural sector contracted by 17.5 percent "following severe droughts, energy outages, and the rising global price of inputs", according to the World Bank.

That is significant in a country highly dependent on oil income but that wants to diversify its economy.

According to the World Food Program, agriculture is the second-largest contributor to Iraq's GDP, after oil, and employs about 20 percent of the workforce.

"We want the state to take an interest in farmers," says Jassem Zaher, who is in his 60s and also exclusively farms amber rice.

"We don't have other crops. It's the farmers' livelihood."



Mexico Awaits New Response from Google on Dispute Over Gulf of Mexico Name Before Filing Lawsuit 

The Gulf of Mexico branded as Gulf of America is pictured through a magnifying glass on the Google Maps app on a computer in Bogota on February 11, 2025. (AFP)
The Gulf of Mexico branded as Gulf of America is pictured through a magnifying glass on the Google Maps app on a computer in Bogota on February 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Mexico Awaits New Response from Google on Dispute Over Gulf of Mexico Name Before Filing Lawsuit 

The Gulf of Mexico branded as Gulf of America is pictured through a magnifying glass on the Google Maps app on a computer in Bogota on February 11, 2025. (AFP)
The Gulf of Mexico branded as Gulf of America is pictured through a magnifying glass on the Google Maps app on a computer in Bogota on February 11, 2025. (AFP)

Mexico said Monday it is awaiting a new response from Google to its request that the tech company fully restore the name “Gulf of Mexico” to its Google Maps service before filing a lawsuit.

President Claudia Sheinbaum shared a letter addressed to her government from Cris Turner, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy. It says that Google will not change the policy it outlined after US President Donald Trump declared the body of water the Gulf of America.

“We will wait for Google’s response and if not, we will proceed to court,” Sheinbaum said Monday during a morning press briefing.

As it stands, the gulf appears in Google Maps as “Gulf of America” within the United States, as “Gulf of Mexico” within Mexico and “Gulf of Mexico” (Gulf of America) elsewhere. Turner in his letter said the company was using “Gulf of America” to follow “longstanding maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions” and that the company was willing to meet in person with the Mexican government.

“While international treaties and conventions are not intended to regulate how private mapping providers represent geographic features, it is our consistent policy to consult multiple authoritative sources to provide the most up to date and accurate representation of the world,” he wrote.

Mexico has argued that the mapping policy violates Mexican sovereignty because the US only has jurisdiction over around 46% of the Gulf. The rest is controlled by Mexico, which controls 49% and Cuba, which controls around 5%. The name “Gulf of Mexico” dates back to 1607 and is recognized by the United Nations.

In response to Google's letter, Mexican authorities said they would take legal action, writing that “under no circumstance will Mexico accept the renaming of a geographic zone within its own territory and under its jurisdiction.”

The renaming of the body of water by Trump has flared tensions between Mexico and the US at a pivotal time for the neighboring allies.

Sheinbaum has had to walk a fine line with Trump amid threats of tariffs and Mexico and other Latin American countries have braced themselves for promised mass deportations, the brunt of which has still not been felt.

Along with the legal threat to Google, the Mexican president also announced Monday that Mexico and the US would hold high-level meetings this week on trade and security in an effort to maintain a “long-term plan of collaboration” between the two countries.

It's the latest round of talks between the two countries in which Mexico hopes to hold off a larger geopolitical crisis.