Extracting salt from soil 'could help Iraq's redundant land'

A project to extract salt from the soil in millions of acres of Iraq's land has begun in the hope that it will render the area fertile and capable of producing crops.

An area once dubbed the country's fertile crescent is now being rejuvenated as the soil is flushed of salts and nearby rivers are cleaned up, Reuters reported.

The six million-acre area, once Iraq's most fruitful and yielding a large portion of its crops, reaches from the eastern Mediterranean Sea and down towards the Gulf.

During the launch of the scheme, Latif Rasheed, minister of water resources, stated: "It's a huge project, we are seeking to collect and drain all the salty water and remove groundwater from the center and the south [of Iraq]."

The operation has been halted several times since it was first devised in the 50s, due to political unrest.

Meanwhile, in the UK, a specialist last week claimed that levels of the vital minerals potassium and phosphorous are diminishing in the country's soil.