Integrated Pest Management for Major Date Palm Pests in Iraq

Abstract

In addition to their social, environmental, health and religious importance, palm groves formed over the decades a source of livelihood for an important segment of Iraqi farmers, especially after the orchards became shelter to another crop of high economic return (citrus), contributing to achieve self-sufficiency until the late nineties. of the last century. This agro-ecological combination was introduced by ancestors and maintained by subsequent generations with such high productivity to put Iraq at the top of the list of countries in terms of number of palm trees or date production until the mid-nineties of the last century. However, researchers have not made any significant contributions in the development of modern cultivation systems of date palm and improvement of palm groves. The cultivation of date palm is now facing numerous problems and serious constraints that could threaten this vital industry to a great extent. Data from the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation shows that the number of palm trees and their productivity were reduced drastically