Wheat farmers struggle to sell their crops as harvest season ends

ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region — Trucks full of wheat have been languishing for almost a month in a five-kilometer-long convoy on the Zakho Derkar Road in Duhok province 

Harvest season has come to an end in the Kurdistan Region but the Iraqi government has not yet begun collecting the wheat.
 
Farmers have to pay high transportation costs due to the holdup, a cost some of them cannot afford. 

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) began purchasing wheat from farmers on June 8 but many have refused to sell their crops, saying the Iraqi government pays more per ton than the KRG. 

The KRG General Director of Commerce said on June 14 that Iraq will only buy 350,000 tons of wheat from farmers in the Kurdistan Region but this year's harvest is expected to yield be between 650,000 to 750,000 tons.

The longer the farmers have to wait, the more they end up having to pay the truck drivers.

 

Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed