Agriculture

Kurdish wheat farmers to sell harvest to Baghdad

The Kurdish agriculture ministry, in collaboration with farmers' unions and village councils, forms field committees that visit farmers' lands and record information.

Kurdistan 24 2023/11/01 17:51

A Kurdish farmer inspects his wheat a harvest, May 28, 2022. (Photo: Dana Hama Gharib/Kurdistan 24)

Kurdistan Wheat Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources Iraqi government farmers

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources has informed farmers in the Kurdistan Region that they must complete new information forms within 45 days in order to receive financial compensation from the Iraqi government for the pending sale of their harvest.

This KRG effort is aimed at addressing the issue of marketing and receiving wheat from farmers within the framework of the Kurdish region’s annual receipt plan, in coordination with Iraqi trade officials.

The Kurdish agriculture ministry, in collaboration with farmers' unions and village councils, forms field committees that visit farmers' lands and record information.

Once received, the Kurdish wheat is milled into flour by Iraqi trade and agriculture ministries, whereafter is it used as part of the federal Public Distribution System (PDS), a subsidy program that provides monthly rations of wheat flour, rice, sugar and vegetable oil to qualified citizens.

On July 16, KRG Spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani announced that all wheat from Kurdistan Region farmers was received in silos on the order of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

The Kurdistan Agriculture Export Initiative, launched in 2022, is central to the KRG’s progressive reform agenda to diversify the economy and boost the agricultural sector of the Kurdish region.

Under this initiative, for the first time in the Kurdistan Region’s history, pomegranates and potatoes were exported to Gulf markets, with future plans for figs, grapes, and apples to be exported as well.

Iraq is a net food import country that heavily relies on other countries to feed its population. With the exception of Kurdish wheat in the north, the country almost exclusively imports its wheat, a problematic situation that has been exacerbated by the Russo-Ukrainian War, involving two countries that provide more than a quarter of the global wheat supply, according to a Dec. 2022 United Nations report.