· Irrigation: Center-pivot irrigation systems are in need
of calibration and repair. The farmers
we have talked with, or worked with, have all said that their pivots are very
good. In reality, the farmers have never
grown a crop in the summer time, when the crop is 100% reliant on irrigation
for its water needs. The farmers usually
just use their pivots to supplement the rains in the fall/spring for their
wheat or barley crop. Being totally
reliant on their pivots definitely showed the weaknesses of them. When we have talked with the irrigation
specialists with INMA (USAID), they have said that all of the pivots
they have seen in the entire country of Iraq are not calibrated correctly. The main issues are the lack of pressure
regulators, and using incorrect nozzles when replacing a faulty one.
· Weed
Control: The second biggest problem we
faced is weed control. When we talked
with the agricultural supply stores, they said that they had the chemicals that
we needed for post-application. When it
came time to use those, we found out that we had been given false
information. A couple of farmers hired
labor to pull the weeds. We used a
cultivator in the fields that we rented, and pushed hard to have the other
farmers do the same. Unfortunately, the
majority of the farmers refused to do anything about the weeds. This issue not only hurt yields, but caused
problems for the combines, and at the factory.
To remedy this issue, we must import the chemicals/adjuvants that we need,
and have them on-hand. We will need
warehouse space to store the chemicals.
The most likely place to import the chemicals is from Turkey – there are
several major chemical companies that are registered there (Monsanto, Syngenta,
BASF, Dow). We will require the use of a
pre-emergent herbicide, with a possible post-emergent application, on every
field, no exceptions.
· Zero support
from the Ministry of Agriculture. This has made getting elite seeds and the
proper herbicides and pesticides impossible. After three years of attempts, no
one has told us how to register seed in the country.
· Electricity: In the summer, the electricity becomes more
sporadic. This affected us because the
center-pivots run off of electricity.
The best way to overcome this is to make sure that the guard at each
field immediately turns the pivot back on, when the electricity comes back
on. Another option is to install an
automatic switch that turns the pivot back on when the power comes back.
· Harvest
issues: relying on local combine owners
was very difficult to say the least. For
example, we would agree to begin harvesting a field at 7am, and they wouldn’t
start until 1:30pm. This happened
basically every day throughout harvest.
We would have 2 combines in a field, and they would only harvest 20
acres in one day – a very, very small amount.
Soybeans are a very time-sensitive crop when it comes to harvest. In addition, because we had irrigation issues,
the outside ring of the field would drydown differently than the inside parts
of the field. The combine drivers
refused to just harvest the soybeans that were ready, and then return at a
later time to harvest the rest. This led
to increased harvest losses, because we were forced to wait for the inside
parts of the field to drydown, while the rest of the field was becoming too
dry. Another factor is that the combine
drivers are only used to harvesting wheat, so are not accustomed to putting the
combine head close to the ground – they were really afraid of getting dirt into
the combine. This issue led to harvest
losses – in parts of each field it led to 10+ bu/A losses.
· Nitrogen
applications: I did a small test of
late-season nitrogen application, and saw some positive results. The plants held onto their pods/seeds better
than the untreated areas. Anything we
can do to relieve stress on the plants will help yields. Applying fungicides and insecticides is
another thing that would help us next year.
· Animals: There are many flocks of sheep and goats that
go by our fields every day. I have seen
evidence of damage caused by these animals, as well as cattle, horse, and wild
dogs that fight in the fields and damage plants. If it is a field we control, or if we have a
contract with a farmer, we need to require that the guard do a better job of
protecting the plants.
· Holidays: There are many local holidays throughout the
year – unfortunately, 2 of the major ones, Ramadan and Eid, fall in the
timeline of our crop year. All weed and
pest control have to be taken care of before the month of Ramadan begins, and
hopefully harvest can come before Eid.
·
Control: We
rented some land this year, thinking that we could be able to better control
what was happening and be more successful.
In reality, the people we worked with made it worse than working with
regular farmers. They changed the rates
of irrigation and did not turn it on when they were supposed to. In the future, we will need to make sure that
the guards work directly for us, which would give us greater leverage over how
the field/irrigation is being managed.
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