Kirkuk wheat farmers demand unified government pricing
Shafaq News- Kirkuk
Approximately 1.2 million dunams (120,000 hectares) saw wheat cultivation across Kirkuk province this season, the provincial agriculture directorate confirmed Thursday, with farmers calling on the government to equalize purchase prices for crops grown inside and outside the official agricultural plan.
Zuhair Ali, Director of Kirkuk Agriculture, told Shafaq News that of the total planted area, 420,000 dunams (42,000 hectares) fall within the official agricultural plan and receive a government purchase price of 700,000 Iraqi dinars (about $530) per ton. The remaining 850,000 dunams (85,000 hectares), planted outside the plan, are subject to a lower rate of 500,000 dinars (about $380) per ton, a differential set by decisions of Iraq's Council of Ministers.
Read more: Iraq’s wheat fields no longer guarantee bread
The Ministry of Trade declined to accept the full quantity produced on land outside the agricultural plan, estimated at approximately 500,000 tons, according to Ali, which prompted the directorate to audit its registered land data, revise the agricultural plan, and remove government-appropriated lands from the records to correct discrepancies in marketing figures.
Raad Mohammed, a Kirkuk farmer, called on Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and the Minister of Agriculture, Abdul Rahim Jasim Al-Shammari, to intervene directly, adding that the 200,000-dinar gap per ton was causing significant economic losses.
Read more: Iraq's farmers fed the state. Now they're waiting to be paid.
