Farmer, Where Art Thou? Exploring Agricultural Trends in Iraq Amidst Economic and Environmental Crises

Iraq is not an agrarian society—and has not been for many decades now. Even in the most rural areas, agriculture is not a predominant economic sector in terms of employment and wealth generation. The sector does however feature prominently in the emerging narratives in the country around the climate-displacement and climate-security nexuses, respectively. This is because agriculture is indeed a key steppingstone between environmental degradation and social and economic disruption.

Thus, while it is a relatively small productive sector in Iraq, it is an important one to evaluate in this context:

1. Even in the more rural districts of Iraq, agriculture is currently a relatively small sector but still strategic. Most farmers and livestock owners across these areas, however, are facing severe impacts originating from conflict, economic and climate factors and many affected households are gradually abandoning these activities as a result.

2. The persistence of these dynamics run the risk of triggering negative coping strategies among households and, eventually, may affect their capacity to sustainably remain where they currently reside and force them to move elsewhere. The picture remains still unclear based on the data available, but depopulation of rural areas is indeed a topic of concern among these communities.

3. Mitigating these impacts requires a political, economic, and social approach to transition to a more sustainable and strategic agriculture sector. This means intersecting sectoral policies with other pressing issues in Iraq including adapting the sector to the environmental limitations, strengthening state presence and functioning, and mitigating the associated drift towards instability and unrest.

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