Iraq rice production rebounds as drought ends, but future uncertain

AL-MISHKHAB, Iraq: Alaa Al-Ibrahimi is planting rice again for the first time in years at his farm in Al-Mishkhab, in ​Iraq’s Najaf region. “Last year, I did not cultivate a single dunam ... This year, by God’s will, we got water,” he said, as workers sowed Anbar rice — his preferred variety — on his plot of around 100 dunams, or 25 hectares. After years of drought that left water reserves at historic lows and prompted strict curbs on water-intensive crops, heavy rains and increased river flows from Iraq’s neighbors have once again allowed rice growers to flood their fields.

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