Kurdish farmers receive first instalment of delayed compensation from Baghdad
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — After months of dispute and negotiations following Baghdad’s refusal to fully compensate Kurdish farmers, wheat growers in Kurdistan Region are expected to receive their first compensation instalment from the Iraqi government for their sold wheat crop in 2016.
The instalment amounting to nearly 223 billion dinars (ca $190 million) was derived from Iraqi budget allocations for purchased wheat from farmers across the country, said Abdulrazaq Nawandi at the Kurdish Ministry of Commerce, adding that the full compensation is around 882 billion dinars (ca $750 million) of which 660 billion (ca $561 million) is yet to be paid in the future.
According to the ministry, Kurdish farmers have not been fully compensated for the past three years, a growing debt which now amounts to over 902 billion dinars (ca $767 million) .
The Kurdish ministry of agriculture says wheat farmers in the Kurdistan Region will likely to face hard-hitting regulations in Baghdad this year when selling their crop.
Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture has announced, in order to buy Kurdish farmers wheat crop in the future, the farmers will need to give detailed and documented information about how and where they produced their goods.
Baghdad has raised doubts over the swift increase of wheat production in the Kurdish controlled territories of Iraq and accused ministry of agriculture in Erbil of selling exported wheat crop from other Kurdish areas in Syria, Turkey and Iran as part of their own harvest, something Kurdish authorities strongly have denied.
Nawandyi confirmed that the first instalment had arrived and that farmers were expected to receive around 38 percent of what they are totally entitled to this week.
In 2016 alone, around 886,000 tons of Kurdish wheat has been purchased by Baghdad which amounts to some 596 billion (ca $506 million), he added.
Kurdish wheat crop increased by 18 percent in 2015 while Iraq’s total production fell nearly 10 percent, according to official data.
“We have tried over the past years to avoid politicising the question of farmer compensation between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi central government which has yielded result now,” Nawandyi said referring to lingering disputes between the two adminstrations over revenues in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
The instalment amounting to nearly 223 billion dinars (ca $190 million) was derived from Iraqi budget allocations for purchased wheat from farmers across the country, said Abdulrazaq Nawandi at the Kurdish Ministry of Commerce, adding that the full compensation is around 882 billion dinars (ca $750 million) of which 660 billion (ca $561 million) is yet to be paid in the future.
According to the ministry, Kurdish farmers have not been fully compensated for the past three years, a growing debt which now amounts to over 902 billion dinars (ca $767 million) .
The Kurdish ministry of agriculture says wheat farmers in the Kurdistan Region will likely to face hard-hitting regulations in Baghdad this year when selling their crop.
Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture has announced, in order to buy Kurdish farmers wheat crop in the future, the farmers will need to give detailed and documented information about how and where they produced their goods.
Baghdad has raised doubts over the swift increase of wheat production in the Kurdish controlled territories of Iraq and accused ministry of agriculture in Erbil of selling exported wheat crop from other Kurdish areas in Syria, Turkey and Iran as part of their own harvest, something Kurdish authorities strongly have denied.
Nawandyi confirmed that the first instalment had arrived and that farmers were expected to receive around 38 percent of what they are totally entitled to this week.
In 2016 alone, around 886,000 tons of Kurdish wheat has been purchased by Baghdad which amounts to some 596 billion (ca $506 million), he added.
Kurdish wheat crop increased by 18 percent in 2015 while Iraq’s total production fell nearly 10 percent, according to official data.
“We have tried over the past years to avoid politicising the question of farmer compensation between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi central government which has yielded result now,” Nawandyi said referring to lingering disputes between the two adminstrations over revenues in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.