Impacts of Climate Change of Paddy Farming in Four Iraqi Rural Communities: The Case of Al Najaf, Al Qadisiyah, Al Muthanna and Thi Qar

Impacts of climate change on paddy farming of four districts (Al Najaf, Al Qadisiyah, Al Muthanna and Thi Qar) in the south of Iraq were investigated for the period 1966–2015. Changes in annual precipitations, minimum and maximum temperatures, relative humidity, paddy-cultivated lands, yields and total productions were investigated. Effects of changing climate parameters on paddy farming were assessed. Present findings revealed increasing average annual minimum and maximum temperatures and decreasing annual total precipitations and relative humidity. This scenario explicitly indicated how Iraqi agriculture (especially paddy farming) and irrigation sectors were suffering from the scarcity of rainfall and rising temperatures because Iraqi agriculture and irrigation systems largely dependent on these two factors. As temperature, rainfall and availability of irrigation water have cumulative effects on paddy production and all those components are adversely affected by climate change, Iraqi paddy production is decreasing with the adverse impacts of climate change. Evidently, rice yields (ton per hectare) of these provinces are also decreasing noticeably. Present findings clearly revealed that climate change and resultant dry periods had various adverse impacts on food security, poverty, paddy production and overall agricultural productivity. It was concluded that Iraqi government should take some initiatives to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on paddy yields. Iraqi government should also put a greater emphasis on policy formulation to find out the ways of adaptation and reduction of negative impacts of climate change.