Ali Jarjis, a Shabak, living in Bashiqa says he has been involved in the olive business for the past 34 years. He complains that his olive fields can no longer serve as his sole source of income, due to the government's lack of support to the domestic produce.
The olives from Bashiqa are known across Iraq for their superior quality.
"Those farmers who had difficult financial situations gave up working the land," Ali Jarjis told Rudaw’s Mustafa Goran on Tuesday.
"Some of the farmers cut down their trees, turning the fields into residential units or selling them for other purposes."
Jarjis said the government should limit the number of imported olives on the market and provide necessary pesticides against diseases.
"Imported olives have largely affected our market and the government does not support us at all,” he added.
"After our areas were liberated from ISIS, some organizations assisted us in resuming our business. They also have stopped the assistance," he said without naming who had supported them.
Before the Islamic State (ISIS) overran Bashiqa and controlled the region from 2014 to 2017, there were up to a hundred shops selling olives and pickles. There were also three olive oil factories, but they have all disappeared and the farmers now sell their olives in the streets.
There currently are 3,000 farmers in Bashiqa growing olives. They expect they will produce 7,000 tons of olives this year, according to Shakir Yahya, head of the agriculture department in Bashiqa.
More than 5,000 dunams of land have been dedicated to around a million olive trees, according to Yahya.
"The number of olive trees reaches about one million trees, but the lack of assistance from the government and the ministry has caused farmers not to register the number of trees with us," Yahya detailed.
Iraq is ranked ninth among Arab countries and 23rd in the world in olive production.
The harvest season for yellow olives begins in March each year, but the harvest for black olives begins in September. The lack of buyers and factories in this region has led to most farmers selling their products on the streets.
