Official: tougher Iraqi regulations to impact Kurdish wheat farmers
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish ministry of agriculture says wheat farmers in the Kurdistan Region will likely face hard-hitting regulations in Baghdad this year when selling their crops.
Anwar Omar, a general manager at the ministry, told Rudaw that Iraqi authorities had introduced new rules regarding the purchase of the harvested wheat in the Kurdistan Region, which would likely reduce the overall sale of Kurdish wheat.
“The main problem is that if Iraq decides not to purchase our farmers’ wheat, large portions of it will be wasted, as we have no available silos to store it,” Omar said.
Iraq’s agriculture ministry has announced that in order to buy Kurdish farmers wheat crops in the future, the farmers will need to give detailed and documented information about how and where they have produced their goods.
Omar said that, although they will assist the farmers in providing the required information, he believed in that in the long-term it would be difficult for growers to meet the tougher conditions, as many of them are village dwellers who often cultivate undocumented farming lands to support their families.
Kurdish wheat crops increased by 18 percent in 2015, while Iraq’s total production fell nearly 10 percent, according to Omar.
“The Iraqi government has questioned the increase of our production and said they received information that wheat produced in Syria and elsewhere had been sold to Baghdad as Kurdish wheat,” Omar explained.
Anwar Omar, a general manager at the ministry, told Rudaw that Iraqi authorities had introduced new rules regarding the purchase of the harvested wheat in the Kurdistan Region, which would likely reduce the overall sale of Kurdish wheat.
“The main problem is that if Iraq decides not to purchase our farmers’ wheat, large portions of it will be wasted, as we have no available silos to store it,” Omar said.
Iraq’s agriculture ministry has announced that in order to buy Kurdish farmers wheat crops in the future, the farmers will need to give detailed and documented information about how and where they have produced their goods.
Omar said that, although they will assist the farmers in providing the required information, he believed in that in the long-term it would be difficult for growers to meet the tougher conditions, as many of them are village dwellers who often cultivate undocumented farming lands to support their families.
Kurdish wheat crops increased by 18 percent in 2015, while Iraq’s total production fell nearly 10 percent, according to Omar.
“The Iraqi government has questioned the increase of our production and said they received information that wheat produced in Syria and elsewhere had been sold to Baghdad as Kurdish wheat,” Omar explained.