Iraq to make biofuels out of rotting dates

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s prime minister has approved a project by a United Arab Emirates-based company to make biofuel from dates that would otherwise be wasted because they have started to perish, Iraqi officials said on Sunday.

Iraq has the world’s third largest oil reserves but its crumbling farm sector, which has suffered from decades of sanctions, isolation and war, is the country’s leading employer.

A long drought has conspired with entrenched problems like high soil salinity, poor irrigation practices and a lack of proper seeds and fertilizer to hold back domestic farming and make Iraq heavily dependent on grain imports. Iraqi officials are keen to do anything to boost agricultural productivity.

Reuters