Drought withers Iraqi farms, food supplies

[Barrett808]

Iraq has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, but it's running out of another valuable commodity: water.

Iraq's ancient name, Mesopotamia, means the land between two rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates, which flow into Iraq from Turkey and Syria. But water is now so limited for agriculture that Iraq imports 80 percent of the food Iraqis eat.

During the holy month of Ramadan, traditional foods that typically come from Iraqi farms are getting harder to find.

Iraq once had the most fertile lands in the region, but the low waters of the Tigris serve as a reminder of an environmental disaster — a two-year drought — along with decades of war and mismanagement. ...

http://desdemonadespair.blogspot.com/2009/09/drought-withers-iraqi-farms-food.html