Published by
Al-Araby
Al-Araby
Salah Chelab crushed a husk of wheat plucked from his sprawling farmland south of Baghdad and inspected its seeds in the palm of one hand. They were several grams lighter than he hoped. “It’s because of the water shortages,” he said, the farm machine roaring behind him, cutting and gathering his year’s wheat harvest. Chelab had planted most of his 10 acres (4 hectares) of land, but he was only able to irrigate a quarter of it after the Agriculture Ministry introduced strict water quotas during the growing season, he said. The produce he was growing on the rest of it, he fears, “will die withou…