1,500 Iraqi farmers attend expo

BAGHDAD, May 6 (UPI) -- More than 1,500 Iraqi farmers met for an agricultural and technology exhibit hosted by U.S. reconstruction officials.

Provincial reconstruction teams embedded with the U.S. Army hosted a exhibition near Salman Pak, about 20 miles southeast of Baghdad, to help local business owners rejuvenate the farming and agricultural sector in the area, the U.S. military said.

Col. Bud Jameson, a reconstruction official with the U.S. Army, said many of the regional farmers used outdated techniques that prohibit effective yields.

With nearly 60 percent of the area's residents relying on the agricultural sector for income, the exhibition focused on developing sound irrigation practices and resource diversification.

"There has been a lot of wasted water because they have been 'flood' irrigating their fields like they did in the old days," Jameson said. "This doesn't work because some of the land is not even and the water runs down into the low ground. Seed in the high ground does not get irrigated."

Jameson said the exhibition also taught area farmers to allocate resources across different niches in the agriculture sector.

"It used to be farmers associated by village," he said. "But the problem with that is one guy might be into fish farming and another into wheat. While they both need water, their priorities are totally different."