Shafaq News-Kirkuk
Approximately1.2 million dunams (120,000 hectares) saw wheat cultivation across Kirkukprovince this season, the provincial agriculture directorate confirmedThursday, with farmers calling on the government to equalize purchase pricesfor crops grown inside and outside the official agricultural plan.
Zuhair Ali,Director of Kirkuk Agriculture, told Shafaq News that of the total plantedarea, 420,000 dunams (42,000 hectares) fall within the official agriculturalplan and receive a government purchase price of 700,000 Iraqi dinars (about $530)per ton. The remaining 850,000 dunams (85,000 hectares), planted outside theplan, are subject to a lower rate of 500,000 dinars (about $380) per ton, adifferential set by decisions of Iraq's Council of Ministers.
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The Ministry ofTrade declined to accept the full quantity produced on land outside theagricultural plan, estimated at approximately 500,000 tons, according to Ali,which prompted the directorate to audit its registered land data, revise theagricultural plan, and remove government-appropriated lands from the records tocorrect discrepancies in marketing figures.
Raad Mohammed,a Kirkuk farmer, called on Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and the Minister ofAgriculture, Abdul Rahim Jasim Al-Shammari, to intervene directly, adding that the200,000-dinar gap per ton was causing significant economic losses.
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