Baghdad will send payment of Kurdistan Region farmers soon: Minister

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s Minister of Planning and Trade Salman al-Jumaili on Wednesday said Baghdad would make every effort to pay the dues of farmers in the Kurdistan Region soon.

Jumaili made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation from the Kurdistan Region’s Farmers Association headed by president Fares Hussein Abdullah, according to a statement issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning and Trade office.

According to the statement, the parties discussed the mechanisms of sending overdue financial payments between 2014 to 2017 to farmers in Kurdistan.

Jumaili said the central government in Baghdad would make “every effort to pay the dues of the farmers in the Kurdistan Region, like other farmers in Iraq.”

He explained that the delay in payments was due to “the decline of agricultural production in the country as well as the scarcity of rain.”

Abdullah, meanwhile, pointed out that the payments of farmers in the Kurdistan Region had been delayed for three years and called on Baghdad to work on sending these dues.

In February, farmers in Kurdistan said they had decided to refrain from selling their wheat crops to the Iraqi government because they have lost confidence in Baghdad due to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s broken promises.

Wheat traders confirmed with Kurdistan 24 that several farmers had begun selling their crops to traders after the Iraqi government failed to send the outstanding dues.

“I will market my own crop of wheat myself, even if I sell it to traders at a lower price, at least I will receive a payment,” one farmer said, adding his “three-year entitlement is still in the hands of the Iraqi government.”