January 14, 2023
Baghdad / Obelisk: The Pulitzer Center website stated, on Saturday 14/01/2023, that climate change in Iraq has led to a change in life, as water scarcity and decreased rainfall have led to more drought and desertification, as drought has cost Iraq 49 percent of its agricultural production.
The site mentioned in a report that this drought is clearer than what independent farmers have, as the drought forced them to leave their lands that their families had inherited for generations and go to get jobs whose wages are barely enough to live on the outskirts of the cities.
The report added that the most important factor for changing the agricultural reality in Iraq is the so-called climatic migration, which prompted many farmers to migrate lands to search for work and live in illegal homes, which means social rupture and a great loss of local income.
He added that the disintegration of rural communities in Iraq will lead to the collapse of urban communities that are already suffering from an increase in population momentum, and thus this momentum will lead to an escalation in unemployment and crime rates and undermine the security stability of the country.
He explained that the infrastructure in the main Iraqi cities such as Baghdad and Basra suffers from overcrowding in schools, hospitals and other services, and with the failure of agriculture, migration from the countryside to the city will increase the pressure on the already dilapidated structures as a result of decades of sanctions and wars.
The report indicated that, according to the World Bank, 22.5 percent of the country’s 40 million population lives on less than $1.90 a day, and there is fierce competition for jobs with an income of $4 a day, while unemployment hovers at 16.5 percent for the general population.
The report stressed the need to find solutions to the problem of agriculture in the country because of its large income that supports the country’s economy and the provision of job opportunities that reduce the momentum of pressure on government jobs, which constitute 39 percent of the total job opportunities.
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