Saddam made the extraordinary admission at his trial in Baghdad where prosecutors presented documents, satellite images and audiotapes in an attempt to link the former dictator and his seven co-accused to the execution of 148 Shi'ites after a 1982 assassination attempt on his life in Dujail.
Saddam said he alone was responsible for giving the order for the Shi'ites' trial, not other members of his regime.
"I asked the suspects responsible for the assassination bid to be transferred to the court in Baghdad," Saddam said referring to the then revolutionary court headed by Awad Ahmed al-Bander, one of his co-accused.
"You put Bander as a defendant here just because he was heading the court at that time... It was I who asked the suspects to be judged as you are doing here today," Saddam said.
He also said he alone gave the order for the destruction of the orchards.
"I signed the order" for destroying the orchards. "I am Saddam Hussein. At the time I was in charge. It is not my habit to pass the buck on to others."
"Of course I did not sit on the bulldozer that destroyed the orders, but I signed the order that did it."
"I am responsible, why are you putting others in jail?" he asked.
Explaining the reason for ordering the destruction of farmland, Saddam said: "It's the right of the state to re-own or compensate. So where is the crime?"
He said he ordered the razing of the farms because there had been an attempt on his life as his motorcade drove through the town during a visit in July 1982.
Describing how gunmen fired machineguns on his vehicle, he said: "I saw the bullets with my own eyes, I was sitting on the right side."
Evidence presented
Saddam was mostly subdued as chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi laid out what he said was evidence linking Saddam to the Dujail case.
A day after prosecutors presented what they said was a death warrant signed by Saddam for the 148 Shi'ites, Mr Moussawi showed more papers on Wednesday, claiming the condemned men's trial had been a farce.
Mr Moussawi also showed aerial pictures of fields laid waste around Dujail and played an audiotape of Saddam in discussion with a Baath party official.
The trial is currently in the second phase of depositions by witnesses testifying over events during the Dujail massacre.
The defendants, if found guilty, face the death penalty by hanging.
The trial has frequently run into trouble, with stormy sessions featuring long outbursts or walkouts by the defendants and their counsel as well as the resignation of the previous chief judge and the killing of two defence lawyers.
The trial, which began in October last year, has been adjourned until March 12.