'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎295r] (592/862)

IRRIGATION, AGRICULTURE, AND MINOR INDUSTRY 455
vinces, which together contribute as much. Conditions suit barley
better than wheat in the Irrigation Zone (southern Iraq), where
barley is the predominant cereal, but it is also grown very extensively
in the Rainfall Zone. It has a shorter growing season and demands
less water than wheat, and endures a certain degree of soil salinity.
The native kinds are brown and white, the white being preferable for
export. The Department of Agriculture has introduced two varieties
superior to the native kinds as malting barleys for export: the
Moroccan, which gives a very heavy yield, and the Californian, which
is also suitable for green fodder and dry fodder; moreover, the yield
of about 5 cwt. an acre is nearly twice that of wheat. Hence barley
competes on favourable terms with wheat both as an export crop and
for home consumption and is generally more popular with farmers.
Before 1930 barley acreage reached a maximum of 2,340,000 acres
as against about 1,800,000 under wheat. Then a steep drop in world
prices, following the unloading of American and Russian barley on
the European markets, had disastrous effects on Iraqi cultivators.
Government assistance was necessary, but even the abolition of
tithes in favour of a tax on sales only (p. 484), and the lowering of
freight charges, could not prevent a very great drop in the acreage
sown with barley, which seems to have been halved. In effect,
barley was grown for local consumption only between 1930 and 1935,
but between 1935 and 1939 cultivators recovered confidence. The
total production increased to parity with wheat by 1938, with 590,000
tons, and the acreage rose to 2,535,000 acres. From 1939 to 1942
barley maintained this level, exceeding wheat production by one-third.
With an average export of 227,000 tons from 1935 to 1939 barley
ranks close to dates among agricultural exports, but its market is less
dependable.
Wheat
Climatic conditions and relative abundance of rainfall make wheat
the principal cereal in the Assyrian plains of northern Iraq where dry
farming methods can be used. In southern Iraq it is less important
than rice and barley, though grown in certain areas as an irrigated
winter crop, particularly when there is the prospect of good prices
through the failure of the autumn rains in the Rainfall Zone.
The principal wheat districts are, in northern Iraq the Assyrian
plains, and in southern Iraq the Baghdad, Kut, and Diwaniya pro
vinces. Secondary regions are the Gharraf region of Muntafiq
province, the Diyala province, the Tigris province of Amara, and the