Minister of Agriculture of the Kurdistan Region: Our farmers are subjected to “injustice” by Baghdad

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[size=52]Minister of Agriculture of the Kurdistan Region: Our farmers are subjected to “injustice” by Baghdad[/size]

[size=45]May 25, 2023
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The Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources in the Kurdistan Region, Bekard Talabani, announced that the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture will receive 375,000 tons of wheat from the farmers of the Kurdistan Region, considering that the farmers of the Kurdistan Region are subjected to “injustice” by Baghdad, every year.[/size]
[size=45]The Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources in the Kurdistan Region, Bekard Talabani, said in a press conference today, Thursday (May 25, 2023), that "the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture will receive 375 tons of wheat from the farmers of the Kurdistan Region this year."[/size]
[size=45]And she continued, "We expected that the federal government would deal with the farmers of the Kurdistan Region similarly to the farmers in the central and southern regions of Iraq, but I can say that, unfortunately, the farmers of the Kurdistan Region are exposed to injustice every year, as a percentage of our wheat crop that they receive is determined."[/size]
[size=45]This comes at a time when the Kurdistan Region enjoys a different climate compared to southern and central Iraq, and the rate of rainfall is more, which means that the wheat crop may be greater than the percentage set by Baghdad for Kurdish farmers.[/size]
[size=45]Bekred Talabani added: “In the event that the production of the wheat crop for the farmers of the Kurdistan Region is more than the percentage that was determined for them, we must” agree to receive the second quantity of the crop, so that we can market it.[/size]
[size=45]In turn, Mam Abdullah, a farmer from the Shahrzour region, told Rudaw Media Network: “We do not accept the amount they receive from us in the silos,” explaining that they have grown wheat in a “scientific way” this year, and the rainfall has reached a good rate, and they have to sell Their crops are cheap if they do not receive it.[/size]
[size=45]And he indicated that “the silos receive wheat at 850,000 dinars per ton, while the market price per ton ranges between 600-650,000 dinars.”[/size]
[size=45]The Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources in the Kurdistan Region, explained that negotiations are taking place between two large companies that own 13 different wheat grain factories, with the aim of buying the farmers' crop at a good price, after they had bought their crop last year at a price similar to the price set by the Iraqi government.[/size]
[size=45]A delegation from the Iraqi Ministry of Trade visited the Kurdistan Region in late April to discuss the possibility of opening two new centers to receive the wheat crop in the Kurdistan Region.[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the quantities that Iraq needs from the wheat crop, the Director General of the Grain Trade Company in the Iraqi Ministry of Trade, Haider Nuri, said on (April 28, 2023): “We need 4 million and 600 thousand tons of wheat annually, at a rate of 460 thousand tons per month over a period of 10 months.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “the expectations of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for the crop amount to 4 million tons for all governorates, and if we receive 4 million, we will need 600 thousand tons, and if we receive 3 million and 500 thousand tons, we will need one million and 100 thousand tons.[/size]
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