Evaluation of Applications of Sustainable Agricultural Development in Iraq

Iraq is situated in the Southwest Asia. It is one of the Middle East countries at latitude 33°19′15.60″ north, longitude 43°48′07.20″ east, in the Northern hemisphere. The major challenge for Iraq is the food security, where there is no selfsufficiency of food due to soil deterioration as desertification, salinity and military operations. Iraq suffers of drought due to low rainfall which is about 150 mm/year. Table 1 indicates the production of cereal crops in 2016 which do not cover the local needs. Figure 1 shows the land utilization that more than 75% of it is located within the semidesert and desert. The field crops require the expansion in agricultural area to increase the production to meet food security according to the population growth by sustainable agriculture. There is environmental degradation and nonecofriendly products due to the use of chemical compounds such as: fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, all these factors have effects on the ecosystem negatively. The agricultural sector is very consumptive which use 40% of land and consumes 70% of national natural resources. Therefore, sustainable development cannot be achieved without sustainable agriculture. Figure 2 shows how to achieve sustainable agricultural development through the application of ecological agriculture, zero tillage of agriculture, organic agriculture and alternative agriculture which contribute to the production of green products through green techniques to activate the relationship between producer (plant), consumer (human, animals) and analyst (microorganisms). Figure 3 shows the import of cereal crops between 2012 and 2018 to cover local needs. The conclusion from the study is that Iraq does not meet the level of application of sustainable agriculture.