02/22/07 Helping the Iraqis with grain production

Farm and Ranch February 22, 2007 Since the fall of Saddam Hussein Iraq has again become a customer for U.S. wheat. But the United States is also helping Iraqi farmers with improved technology to increase their own grain production. For example, the southern Iraqi Province of Wassit shipped more than 110-thousand tons of wheat and 90-thousand tons of barley to state silos this past harvest. That was a record yield for the province and four times higher than the 2005 crop season. U.S. Navy Captain Hank Domaraki explains how the record production can be attributed to American help. Domaraki: "Last year USAID bought a 165 wheat cleaners and this year the Army bought 170 seed cleaners. Production on wheat with those seed cleaners alone has increased, depending upon the field and the quality of the seed going into the machines, has increased by 25 to 60%." As for Iraqi farmers themselves; Domaraki: "The farmers always say we don't make any money. But I will say when I went to a province up in the Urbil area, we went to one of the villages where they were cleaning the wheat. The leader of the tribe came up and he gave me a big hug and he says thank you for this seed cleaner. You made our village rich. Rich is not like we think in America but it did bring in money so they can buy things they need. So, yes they are making money and things we are doing here are making a difference." The Iraqi government currently offers grain subsidies that pay farmers about 250 dollars for each ton of grain shipped, but the country's total grain production falls far short of the annual domestic consumption of four million tons. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.