Authorities say the new irrigation system will reduce the waste of water by nearly 80 percent while at the same time considerably increase the arable land.
The Kurdistan region has over 6 million dunam (every dunam is equivalent to some 2500 square meters) of arable land but only a quarter of that land has been used for agriculture primarily due to the flawed irrigation technics.
The new system will particularly enhance the wheat production in the region which the government plans to invest in heavily.
According to the ministry of agriculture, the area of land harvested for wheat has increased by nearly 80 percent in the last decade with Erbil province enjoying the greatest agricultural growth.
Wheat growers in 2015 earned a record crop, boosting production 18 percent from 2014, and earned praise from government officials who said the yield was unprecedented in quality and abundance.
With the new irrigation equipment, it is planned to almost quadruple the wheat production in some areas, the ministry says.
“A farmer who produces 300 kilograms of wheat will make between 1000 and 1200 kilograms from the same land using the new technics,” says manager of the agricultural equipment in the ministry, Hasan Hussein.
Hussein said the new equipment will be placed high above the ground and produce rain-like showers as irrigation.
The three dams in Dukan, Darbandikhan and Dohuk have traditionally supplied the region with tap water. In late 2000, authorities completed a major water station called Ifraz, which with its capacity of 25,000 cubic meters per hour was supposed to end the shortage in the capital.
With the new irrigation system, authorities hope more quantities of water are saved and used to face the growing shortage of tap water in a region with an increasing population.
