Assist. Prof.Dr.  Adil Hais Abdulkafoor

Wheat productivity and food security

Wheat is one of the most significant cereal crops in the world, both in terms of the cultivated area and in terms of the resulting crop. Wheat cultivation is spread in the temperate region of the world in addition to the high lands in some tropical regions. Wheat is grown in the northern region of the world with a percentage of more than 90% of the total the lands planted with strategic crops.

In view of the great importance of wheat as a basic source of human food, worldwide statistics indicate a significant increase in productivity during the last period. It is noted that the worldwide area cultivated has increased about 37%, the local production of wheat in Iraq is about 4.5 million tons annually, and about one million tons are imported and mixed for the purposes of quality with the local product, which does not content gluten in the required amount. Since the insufficient local production of wheat for local consumption, as the difference is covered by import, there is an urgent need to work on increasing production so that the gap between production and consumption can be narrowed through four basic aspects:

A- Vertical development               B- Horizontal development

C - Rationalization of consumption               D - Price policy

First: Vertical Development: -

It means an increase in production from a unit area. In order to reach that, the factors affecting the quantity of production must be known, which is an overlapping set of factors such as: -

1) Soil fertility. 2) Varieties and their quality. 3) Dates and methods of planting. 4) Seeds and plant density. 5) Appropriate weather conditions. 6) Resistance to diseases and insects.7) Processes affecting the harvest. 8) The operations of threshing, winnowing, transporting and storing.

Second: Horizontal Development: -

It is meant to increase the cultivated area of ??wheat. However, there are many problems faced by the horizontal expansion of wheat cultivation, which are -

(1) Cultivation of other important strategic crops.

(2) Expanding the cultivation of perennial trees, such as fruits, at the expense of wheat.

(3) The large loss of cultivated areas because of land clearing.

(4) Expansion of new buildings and roads.

Third: The Price Policy: -

Wheat is one of the crops that does not require much service, as it is one of the easy crops to cultivate. To convince the farmer to plant wheat instead of other crops, the price of wheat supply must be raised until we reach the same level of return from other crops or more so that the farmer accepts the cultivation of wheat. If we are concerned with reducing production costs (fertilizers - seeds - resistance to bushes, pests and their dust).

Fourth: Rationalizing consumption:

This behavior comes through educating those responsible for the production of bread, pastries and sweets.

Therefore, to reduce import and increase production, there are several proposals, including the following:

1) Increasing production by:-

A - Cultivation of high-yield varieties suitable for each region.

b- Adopting appropriate and modern systems for irrigation and fertilization methods.

C - Resistance to bush, diseases and pests through a program in which agricultural extension and the media play a major role in applying the results of various researches.

D- Taking into account the appropriate planting dates.

2) Reconsidering the price policy by bringing the local purchase price of wheat closer to the world market prices, in order to encourage its cultivation and interest in the crop.