Some Iraqi farmers express their fears about the return of the agricultural feudal system to the country after decades of eliminating it, as they say that some influential people seize vast agricultural lands and control their resources.

Last October, hundreds of Diyala governorate farmers launched a distress call to the Iraqi government and the concerned authorities to save them from what they called "feudalism and enslavement" in the governorate's largest farms, through the farm management system by direct implementation to rob farmers of their rights and grant them symbolic allocations from the profits of production.

Despite the assertion of a number of farmers that they were exposed to feudal exploitation and that they had to accept 30% of the profits, due to the lack of other livelihoods, and the scarcity of water that prevented them from exploiting agricultural areas outside the farms of officials that own pumping stations distributed along the lands up to the Tigris River, the Directorate of Agriculture Diyala confirms that "there is no exploitation, and this system has been used by companies for years."

The Director of Diyala Agriculture Media, Muhammad al-Mandalawi, reveals that the "Nai" farm, which was recently controversial, belongs to the former Deputy Prime Minister, Saleh al-Mutlaq, who rented it from the state before 2003, and its area extends to thousands of acres.

Al-Mandalawi explains - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that the percentage granted by companies ranges from 25% to 30% or equally, according to the agreement between the farmer and the company, stressing by saying, "There were no problems."

The Diyala Agriculture Media Director expresses his belief that "there are parties behind promoting allegations of the return of feudalism without evidence, in an attempt to seize some of this land and sell it, or divide it and turn it into residential areas."

Al-Mandalawi denies the return of feudalism, stressing that these companies helped poor families to cultivate the land.

Because it cannot rent those lands at its own expense, and it is satisfied with the percentage that it gets, and this is different from the feudalism that does not give farmers any percentage in return for their efforts.

The feudal system in Iraq

Iraq has known the feudal system since the Ottoman era, and it is a system of agricultural economic relations, where the land is the main means of production, and is owned by one person called "the feudal", according to researcher and academic Dr. Hamid Hassoun Nahai.

And Nahai adds - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that with the British takeover of Iraq in 1914, they worked to perpetuate the feudal system to win over tribal leaders and enhance their influence.

The researcher shows that the British became certain, after more than 10 years of their presence in Iraq, that the formation of a political apparatus loyal to them in the country is not sufficient to consolidate their position and protect their interests unless it is supported by a class or segment that constitutes the social base of the aforementioned apparatus, and at the same time owes their presence to them and tends to them with loyalty. And they are associated with fate.

And he continues, "These specifications applied more than they applied to the segment of clan heads, who are more prepared and more acceptable to the British, as the sheikhs were recognized as the administrators of the lands, because dealing with a small number of people is much easier than dealing with a large number of peasants."

Nahai points out that the “settlement law” granted the clan chiefs the right to control the lands of the tribe, and the settlement had disastrous results for the farmers, their situation and their future, after it deprived them of all their rights to their lands and turned them into mere people who have nothing but labor power, so it was not surprising that their conditions deteriorated. their economic and social conditions to rock bottom.

Hundreds of Diyala governorate farmers launched a distress call to the Iraqi government and the concerned authorities to save them from what they called the "feudalism and enslavement" system (Al-Jazeera)

Parliamentary act

The former member of the Economic Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Mazen al-Faili, warned in February 2021 of the emergence of a new feudal system as a result of two items in the draft general budget.

In this regard, a member of the Agriculture Committee in Parliament, Representative Mowaffaq Shihab Pasha, confirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that Articles 41 and 42 of the 2021 budget bill related to the sale and exploitation of agricultural lands were proposed, and were not passed due to their seriousness, especially since they were proposed at the time of the previous caretaker government, and it was The economic situation is confused as a result of weak oversight, and because this is state property and has a high value, it cannot be offered for sale.

And Pasha points out - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that investing according to appropriate conditions is a good thing, and better than wasteland, as most farmers have large areas, but they do not cultivate them because there is no possibility, expressing by saying, "I would prefer if there was a real investment."

Pasha explains that the danger of the law was in allowing the purchase of the state’s share, and granting the owner the right to dispose of completely, and this contains the danger of personal exploitation of these lands, and this has great repercussions as it is a waste of public money and a form of corruption.

Serious repercussions

And about the repercussions of the return of the feudal system, economist Dr. Abd al-Rahman al-Mashhadani says, "Previously, feudalism used to acquire large areas of land that may reach 20 or 30 thousand dunums, and that era ended with the laws of agrarian reform in the sixties and seventies of the last century, when lands were distributed to farmers ".

And he adds - to Al-Jazeera Net - that there are different points of view on this issue, as some economists believe that if these lands were owned by one person, it would have been possible for him to keep agricultural production at a high level, but dividing them into small areas and distributing them to a number of farmers led to The decline in the productivity of agricultural lands of various crops, especially cereals, and led to another fragmentation of areas by virtue of inheritance.

Al-Mashhadani believes that feudalism will not be possible to return as it was, due to the decline of these large agricultural areas that some deputies talk about, and that the agricultural system today is very different, because most of the farmers abandoned their lands due to the scarcity of water and their inability to compete with imported crops, which forced them to leave agriculture, in When a large part of them migrated towards the cities.

Regarding state lands, Al-Mashhadani indicates that they are government-leased farms, and the government, under the former Finance Minister, thought of getting rid of the public sector and selling these lands, but some believed that this was one of the forms of the new feudalism, and this point is a point of contention.

And he confirms that the agricultural sector - basically - suffers from many problems, including water scarcity, high rates of salinity, and the transformation of farms into deserts and dry land, and this caused great losses to Iraq as a result of these lands being out of use.

Al-Mashhadani points out that the Ministry of Agriculture decided last year to reduce the cultivated areas to 50% of the grain crops, and this year they added 15% (i.e. the decrease became 65%), so agriculture became limited to an area not exceeding 35% of the suitable land.

Regarding the repercussions of the return of the feudal lords, al-Mashhadani points out that there are two different points of view. The first believes that the return of feudalism to large areas contributes to the revitalization of extensive agriculture and the large investment of land, given that these feudal lords are businessmen and investors who own money and have the ability to introduce modern technology, machinery and equipment, which leads to To increase productivity and fill a large part of the need of the local market.

On the other hand, some believe - according to Al-Mashhadani - that feudalism is from the era of tyrannical capitalist regimes that were dominant before 1958, and that it is one of the forms of the monarchy at that time, given that these fiefdoms were granted by the British to the leaders of the tribes loyal to them.

Al-Mashhadani believes that the return of feudalism in its old form through the exploitation of the farmer is the worst exploitation, as the farmer works in the hope of obtaining a small part of the production to meet the needs of his family from the daily sustenance, ruling out the possibility of the return of feudalism in its old form, because the laws differed a lot, and work is no longer confined to Agriculture Peasants can leave farming and engage in other jobs.

The repercussions of the feudal system generated a wave of popular anger that began to escalate gradually (Al-Jazeera)

The overthrow of feudalism

The repercussions of the feudal system generated a wave of popular anger that began to escalate gradually, as it was the main reason for migrations from central and southern Iraq to Baghdad at the time, according to analyst and academic Aqil Abbas.

Abbas adds - to Al-Jazeera Net - that the feudal system ended with the law, after Abdul Karim Qassem overthrew the monarchy in 1958, and passed the Agrarian Reform Law, and other governments came and added to the Agrarian Reform Law, and determined the supreme ownership of the land at 400 dunums, to prevent the return of the feudal system.

Abbas indicates that the feudal system disintegrated with the rise of the socialist state, which gradually led to a decline in agricultural production, and this prompted some to say that the dismantling of feudalism led to the decline in agricultural production, but there are those who question this view.

Abbas believes that the most rational point of view supported by research is that the rise of the socialist and rentier system, the spread of state work and widespread employment, and the rise of oil rents, is what made agriculture no longer economically attractive.