Najaf farmers protest as reopened gates cut off rice-crop water

NAJAF — Farmers in Najaf governorate protested on Tuesday after irrigation gates that had been lowered during a visit by Water Resources Minister Muthanna al-Tamimi were reopened, dropping water levels again in the Mashkhab and Qadisiyah areas and renewing fears for this year’s rice crop.

The protesters demanded the gates be closed again, or partly closed, to get enough water to farmland they say faces severe losses. The gates, at the al-Yaou and Mashkhab regulators, control how much water is diverted into canals serving Najaf’s rice farms and how much flows downstream toward Dhi Qar.

Farmer Amer Shaker said al-Tamimi had ordered three gates at the al-Yaou regulator lowered during his June 27 visit to secure supplies for the Qadisiyah subdistrict, only for the decision to be reversed once he left. “An unknown party came and raised the gates again, and our water was completely cut off,” he said. Shaker said water briefly returned to secondary canals before vanishing, put his own losses at about 16 million dinars (about $10,500) and called for compensation and for the gates to be lowered again to save remaining farmland in his village.

The reopening followed criticism in neighboring Dhi Qar, where environmental activists and council members warned, after videos of the lowered gates circulated, that cutting downstream flows could threaten the governorate’s water supply and its marshes. The marshes are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Other farmers said they had replanted on the strength of the minister’s assurances. Hadi Sarhan said growers bought rice seed for 300,000 dinars (about $195), lost it to drought, then bought it again for the same sum after al-Tamimi’s visit, only to find no water the next day. “Our crops were completely burned, and we felt as though we had been deceived,” he said. Sarhan said thousands of dunams had been damaged and proposed keeping four of the regulator’s seven gates closed and three open to balance supplies between Najaf and Dhi Qar. “If the situation continues like this, we will be forced to stage an open-ended sit-in and die on our land,” he said.

A third farmer, Ahmed Bashir, questioned why the gates were raised “under the pretext of preserving the water share for the World Heritage site and the marshes in Dhi Qar.” He rejected proposals to truck in water using diesel pumps as no lasting fix, and warned of open-ended sit-ins at the al-Yaou regulator if Najaf’s allocation was not secured.

Tuesday’s protest followed al-Tamimi’s June 27 visit to Mashkhab, where farmers had also demonstrated for larger water releases after three years of restrictions on summer cultivation. After touring the area, the minister said farmers had planted nearly all the available rice land despite a ministry plan allowing cultivation on only 80% of designated areas, and said the ministry would work to meet the higher demand, maintain rivers, curb violations of water allocations and coordinate distribution with neighboring governorates. He said Iraq’s water position had improved thanks to increased releases from Turkey, fuller reservoirs in Syria and continuing talks with both countries.