Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Iraq -- Dates

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NARRATOR: Flying over Iraq in a Blackhawk helicopter, it's easy to see why the date palm tree is the cherished symbol of Iraq. During the 1950s, Iraq palm orchards produced more than 600 varieties of dates, and by some estimates accounted for nearly 80 percent of the world's supply. During the country's golden era, there were more than 30 million fruit-producing trees. But wars, neglect, improper drainage and the scurvy of the dreaded Dobas bug have left the industry in shambles.

An aggressive spraying campaign by the American military and the Iraqi Department of Agriculture has improved the date crop yield by as much as 70 percent. Here in Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, attacks from the Dobas bug may finally be under control.

MAN: These dates you see here is affected by the insects Dobas and that's what it affect all the Diyala and Iraq these products. And you see the effect here on the leaves, the fronds of the date palm tree. And the date is affected like this, so it is not good for human consumption. That's why it's bad. After they spray, as you see here, the quality if perfect.

NARRATOR: Baquba produces 84 varieties of dates. Abud Adim Abbas Mohammed is one of the local date farmers. He says the spraying campaign saved 75 of his trees and he's had an 85 percent increase in yield this year. In the past, Iraqi dates have been exported to other countries, then imported back to Iraq as finished products. Three-hundred dollars of Iraqi dates come back as three-thousand dollars of date products.

MR. MCKELLIPS: So as Iraqis prepare for another season of spraying of the dates, the prospects of a date processing plant certainly bodes well for this industry. For the State Department's Public Affairs GO Team in Iraq, I'm Paul McKellips.