Iraq is offering Gulf investors farmland on long term lease contracts as part of a plan to restore its agriculture sector, an official said on Monday.

Gulf countries, mainly reliant on food imports, have increased efforts over the last year to buy land in developing nations from Pakistan to the Philippines and Ethiopia.

'We are looking for investors who are willing to restore Iraqi farmland which was once very fertile land and benefit from the produce,' said Sami R Al-Araji, the chairman of Iraq's National Investment Commission during his visit to the UAE.

Farming in Iraq has been hit hard by decades of war, instability and poor environmental management. Iraq imports almost all of its food, using receipts from oil to pay for it.

Much of the government's budget is spent on food rations.

Declining productivity in Iraq's farmland is mainly a result of soil salinisation, which is caused by insufficient drainage, said Al-Araji.

'We need investors to look at the possibility of developing the irrigation systems in the country which in turn will benefit the farmland,' he added.

Unlike other developing nations such as Pakistan and Sudan, farmland in Iraq cannot be owned by foreign investors.

'This is part of law 23 which states that foreigners cannot own farmland but we are willing to offer contracts for 50 year lease that can even be renewable,' Al-Araji told Reuters.

He added that around $18 billion in investments was needed to restore the majority of farmland.

'I am aware of the trend of Gulf countries investing in farmland for food security and I think we are offering a good opportunity for that,' he said.

Last December the government started a project to restore six million acres (2.5 million hectares) of farmland.

The project aimed to flush excess salinity out of millions of acres of land and cleanse rivers, breathing new life into what was once part of what historians call the 'fertile crescent'.-Reuters