Iraq Releases $65 Million to Wheat Farmers Following Widespread Protests
The Iraqi Trade Ministry has released 100 billion dinars (approximately $65 million) to farmers who marketed wheat during the 2025 agricultural season. This disbursement follows weeks of public demonstrations in Baghdad and other provinces, prompting calls for action from President Nizar Amedi and Parliament Speaker Haibet Al-Halbousi. Protesters from the central grain-producing belt and regions like Kirkuk and Diyala demanded not only overdue payments but also a reversal of wheat price cuts, which saw rates drop from 850,000 to 500,000 dinars per ton. Farmers argue these reductions ignore rising production costs and risk devastating rural livelihoods, while graduates in the sector struggle with limited funding compared to the oil industry.
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Iraq releases farmers’ dues after weeks of protests - Shafaq News | Latest breaking news in Iraq and the world
Shafaq News- Baghdad Iraqi authorities have released overdue payments to farmers, Finance Minister Falih al-Sari announced on Sunday, following weeks of protests over delayed compensation. Al-Sari s
Farmers deliver their crop, receive ... their payment moves through layers of administrative review, budget allocation, and ministerial approval. During that waiting period, they still owe their suppliers, laborers, and equipment creditors. Mahdi Dhamed Al-Qaisi, an adviser to Iraq's Ministry of Agriculture, acknowledged the problem without ambiguity. "Farmers' dues are like a government employee's salary," he told Shafaq News...
Iraqi Trade Ministry on Friday released 100 billion dinars (about $65M) to farmers who marketed their wheat during the 2025 agricultural season. Haider Nouri Al-Kargaawi, Director General of the General Company for Grain Trading, said the payment is part of a series of disbursements backed ...
Additionally, funding directed toward agriculture remains limited compared with the oil sector, although Iraq “possesses fertile land and climate diversity.” · Confidence in the sector has also been undermined by recurring disputes over farmer compensation and support payments, with Iraqi ...
Farmers argued that the sharp reduction in payments per ton of wheat fails to account for the escalating costs of production, including fuel, seeds, and equipment. The current crisis reveals that wheat pricing is an exceptionally sensitive economic issue in Iraq, as it serves as the primary ...
Iraq's farmers fed the state. Now they're waiting to be paid. | Hatha Alyoum English
In recent weeks, farmers from Najaf,Karbala, al-Diwaniyah, and Babil —provinces that form the core of Iraq'scentral grain-producing belt— traveled to Baghdad to demonstrate publicly. Their demands went beyond overdue payments, calling for upward revision of theofficial wheat purchase price, the elimination of certain marketing proceduresthey regard as obstacles, and compensation for crop losses caused by floodingand drought. Some of those protests ...
Farmers across Kirkuk, Baghdad, and Diyala rallied in protest after Iraq reduced official wheat purchasing prices from 850,000 dinars per ton to as low as 500,000, warning that the cuts could devastate rural livelihoods and push many growers to abandon farming entirely.
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