Iraq is in a food crisis thanks to ISIS
3 posters
Page 1 of 1
Iraq is in a food crisis thanks to ISIS
Sami Yuhanna was making a decent living as a wheat farmer until a jihadist put a gun to his head and declared his land in Iraq's Nineveh province the property of Islamic State.
An army offensive has cleared the militants from the eastern half of the provincial capital, Mosul, and nearby towns and villages like Qaraqosh, home to Yuhanna's fields.
But the terror and mismanagement that characterized their two-year rule after seizing Iraq's agriculture heartland has devastated farmers and exacerbated the country’s food security problem.
Yuhanna, who used to sell about 100 tonnes of wheat per year, now lives in a small trailer and drives a taxi in the Kurdish capital of Erbil to barely survive. He is still haunted by the day armed militants arrived.
"They just took over everything I owned," he said.
Farmers fear the agriculture sector could take years to recover, with tractors missing, unexploded mines in the fields and farm compounds damaged by airstrikes on the militants, who sold commodities like wheat to finance their operations.
Nineveh was Iraq's most productive farming region before the arrival of Islamic State, producing around 1.5 million tonnes of wheat a year, or about 21 percent of Iraq's total wheat output, and 32 percent of barley.
An estimated 70 percent of farmers fled when Islamic State took over, and those who stayed -- either to join the movement or out of fear -- faced heavy taxation.
As a Christian, Yuhanna was particularly vulnerable to the Sunni extremists, who tried to build a self-sustaining caliphate and killed anyone opposed to their radical ideas.
"The people that turned on me we were all from this area. I knew every one of them. They joined Daesh," said Yuhanna, using an acronym for the group.
Reuters was not able to obtain official figures for agricultural output during Islamic State rule because the government had no access to areas under jihadist control.
Haider al-Abbadi, head of the General Union of Farmers Cooperatives, told Reuters in a telephone interview that he estimated output fell to around 300,000 tonnes, based on accounts of how much of the grain farmers had sold.
"Islamic State used to surround farmers in general and prevent them from going out into the fields and farming their land because they were scared they would escape or that they would go and join the government forces," Abbadi said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-agriculture-idUSKBN15S1XR
"Maniacs with power don't tend to think things through." -- Kim Kardashian
Re: Iraq is in a food crisis thanks to ISIS
yeah but she was talking about kanyeBen Reilly wrote:Sami Yuhanna was making a decent living as a wheat farmer until a jihadist put a gun to his head and declared his land in Iraq's Nineveh province the property of Islamic State.
An army offensive has cleared the militants from the eastern half of the provincial capital, Mosul, and nearby towns and villages like Qaraqosh, home to Yuhanna's fields.
But the terror and mismanagement that characterized their two-year rule after seizing Iraq's agriculture heartland has devastated farmers and exacerbated the country’s food security problem.
Yuhanna, who used to sell about 100 tonnes of wheat per year, now lives in a small trailer and drives a taxi in the Kurdish capital of Erbil to barely survive. He is still haunted by the day armed militants arrived.
"They just took over everything I owned," he said.
Farmers fear the agriculture sector could take years to recover, with tractors missing, unexploded mines in the fields and farm compounds damaged by airstrikes on the militants, who sold commodities like wheat to finance their operations.
Nineveh was Iraq's most productive farming region before the arrival of Islamic State, producing around 1.5 million tonnes of wheat a year, or about 21 percent of Iraq's total wheat output, and 32 percent of barley.
An estimated 70 percent of farmers fled when Islamic State took over, and those who stayed -- either to join the movement or out of fear -- faced heavy taxation.
As a Christian, Yuhanna was particularly vulnerable to the Sunni extremists, who tried to build a self-sustaining caliphate and killed anyone opposed to their radical ideas.
"The people that turned on me we were all from this area. I knew every one of them. They joined Daesh," said Yuhanna, using an acronym for the group.
Reuters was not able to obtain official figures for agricultural output during Islamic State rule because the government had no access to areas under jihadist control.
Haider al-Abbadi, head of the General Union of Farmers Cooperatives, told Reuters in a telephone interview that he estimated output fell to around 300,000 tonnes, based on accounts of how much of the grain farmers had sold.
"Islamic State used to surround farmers in general and prevent them from going out into the fields and farming their land because they were scared they would escape or that they would go and join the government forces," Abbadi said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-agriculture-idUSKBN15S1XR
"Maniacs with power don't tend to think things through." -- Kim Kardashian
The Devil, You Know- Forum Detective ????♀️
- Posts : 3966
Join date : 2015-05-11
Location : Room 101 (which does not exist)
Re: Iraq is in a food crisis thanks to ISIS
It's a universal truth! But just to be totally clear, I made that quote up and then attributed it to someone really dumb as to emphasize how obvious it is.
Re: Iraq is in a food crisis thanks to ISIS
Ben Reilly wrote:It's a universal truth! But just to be totally clear, I made that quote up and then attributed it to someone really dumb as to emphasize how obvious it is.
S'pretty cool Bruv.
eddie- King of Beards. Keeper of the Whip. Top Chef. BEES!!!!!! Mushroom muncher. Spider aficionado!
- Posts : 43129
Join date : 2013-07-28
Age : 25
Location : England
Similar topics
» Iraq crisis: How Saudi Arabia helped Isis take over the north of the country
» Iraq crisis: Isis militants 'buried alive Yazidi women and children in attack that killed 500'
» Iraq Crisis: 'Demonising The Muslim Community Over Isis Will Only Lead To Further Radicalisation,' Warns Counter-Terrorist Official
» Let Us Not Overlook the Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq
» ISIS and the Crisis of Meaning
» Iraq crisis: Isis militants 'buried alive Yazidi women and children in attack that killed 500'
» Iraq Crisis: 'Demonising The Muslim Community Over Isis Will Only Lead To Further Radicalisation,' Warns Counter-Terrorist Official
» Let Us Not Overlook the Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq
» ISIS and the Crisis of Meaning
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:28 pm by Ben Reilly
» TOTAL MADNESS Great British Railway Journeys among shows flagged by counter terror scheme ‘for encouraging far-right sympathies
Wed Feb 22, 2023 5:14 pm by Tommy Monk
» Interesting COVID figures
Tue Feb 21, 2023 5:00 am by Tommy Monk
» HAPPY CHRISTMAS.
Sun Jan 01, 2023 7:33 pm by Tommy Monk
» The Fight Over Climate Change is Over (The Greenies Won!)
Thu Dec 15, 2022 3:59 pm by Tommy Monk
» Trump supporter murders wife, kills family dog, shoots daughter
Mon Dec 12, 2022 1:21 am by 'Wolfie
» Quill
Thu Oct 20, 2022 10:28 pm by Tommy Monk
» Algerian Woman under investigation for torture and murder of French girl, 12, whose body was found in plastic case in Paris
Thu Oct 20, 2022 10:04 pm by Tommy Monk
» Wind turbines cool down the Earth (edited with better video link)
Sun Oct 16, 2022 9:19 am by Ben Reilly
» Saying goodbye to our Queen.
Sun Sep 25, 2022 9:02 pm by Maddog
» PHEW.
Sat Sep 17, 2022 6:33 pm by Syl
» And here's some more enrichment...
Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:46 pm by Ben Reilly
» John F Kennedy Assassination
Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:40 pm by Ben Reilly
» Where is everyone lately...?
Thu Sep 15, 2022 3:33 pm by Ben Reilly
» London violence over the weekend...
Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:19 pm by Tommy Monk
» Why should anyone believe anything that Mo Farah says...!?
Wed Jul 13, 2022 1:44 am by Tommy Monk
» Liverpool Labour defends mayor role poll after turnout was only 3% and they say they will push ahead with the option that was least preferred!!!
Mon Jul 11, 2022 1:11 pm by Tommy Monk
» Labour leader Keir Stammer can't answer the simple question of whether a woman has a penis or not...
Mon Jul 11, 2022 3:58 am by Tommy Monk
» More evidence of remoaners still trying to overturn Brexit... and this is a conservative MP who should be drummed out of the party and out of parliament!
Sun Jul 10, 2022 10:50 pm by Tommy Monk
» R Kelly 30 years, Ghislaine Maxwell 20 years... but here in UK...
Fri Jul 08, 2022 5:31 pm by Original Quill