The director of the desert oases project in Anbar, Sami Hussein Ali, announced today, Tuesday, the cultivation of 200 dunams of olive and pistachio varieties in the Qaim district, as part of a plan to rehabilitate desert oases and combat desertification.
Ali stated in a statement followed by the Video News Agency that "the directorate has started a large afforestation campaign in the Al-Obeidi oasis No. (37) in the Qaim district, which included planting a new area of 200 dunams with high oil olive and pistachio varieties, along with establishing windbreaks, aimed at expanding the green area and enhancing environmental sustainability in desert areas."
He added that "the project is being implemented under the sponsorship of Minister of Agriculture Abdul Rahim Al-Shammari and supervised by the Directorate of Forests and Combating Desertification, with support from the World Food Program (WFP)," indicating that "the work included the rehabilitation of two water wells, installation of solar energy systems, and the creation of a drip irrigation system, as well as providing the necessary agricultural pumps to ensure continuous irrigation operations."
He pointed out that "the implementation of fieldwork lasted for 27 days with the participation of 22 workers, to prepare the land and provide the suitable conditions for tree growth," stressing that "these efforts come as part of a plan to expand green areas and reduce the encroachment of desertification by employing modern irrigation techniques and clean energy and transforming desert areas into productive agricultural oases."