Iraqi Farmers Protest in Baghdad Over Unpaid Dues, Contract Renewals

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Iraqi farmers from Babil province protested outside the Ministry of Agriculture in Baghdad on Monday, demanding payment of overdue 2025 financial dues and the renewal of agricultural contracts they say have been suspended for years.

The protesters said the delays have placed their livelihoods and families under growing financial pressure and called on the government to resolve their claims.

Farmers demand contract renewals

One of the protesters told Kurdistan24's correpondent Shivan Jabbari that farming families in the affected areas have cultivated their lands since the 1960s.

He said many families were forcibly displaced under Saddam Hussein's former regime but returned to their ancestral lands after 2003.

According to the farmer, the families received official agricultural contracts in 2008 under Iraq's existing laws.

The contracts were renewed every four years until 2020, when the renewal process stopped.

The protester said there was no clear legal justification for the continued suspension, noting that the areas have established infrastructure, including roads and schools.

He also blamed what he described as the continued influence of figures associated with the former regime, as well as policies adopted by the previous government, for contributing to the dispute.

Dispute over unpaid dues

The farmers are also seeking payment of outstanding agricultural dues from 2025.

The protesting farmer said each farmer was owed more than 20 million Iraqi dinars and had received only part of the amount at the beginning of last year.

He said the government later promised to provide an additional 15 million dinars and settle the remaining outstanding payments, but the promised funds have not been disbursed.

The farmers said the prolonged delays have created serious financial difficulties for families dependent on agriculture as their primary source of income.

Protesters vow to continue

The demonstrators called on the Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant authorities to address both the unpaid dues and the stalled contract renewals.

They said they would continue their protests until their financial and legal claims are resolved.

The dispute highlights the broader challenges facing farmers in Iraq, where administrative procedures, land contracts and delayed government payments can directly affect agricultural production and rural livelihoods.