Kirkuk officials: 1.2 million dunums planted with wheat this season

KIRKUK, Iraq — The Kirkuk Agriculture Directorate said 1.2 million dunums of land were planted with wheat in the 2024-2025 planting season, including 420,000 dunums under the agricultural plan and 850,000 dunums planted outside it. Directorate head Zuhur Ali said wheat produced under the plan is purchased at 700,000 dinars per ton, while wheat grown outside the plan is bought at 500,000 dinars per ton. Ali added that the Ministry of Trade has been reluctant to take delivery of roughly 500,000 tons produced outside the plan, and that planting areas are being re-examined in response. He did not specify the scale of the review or the timeline for completion. Local farmer Raid Mohammed called on the prime minister and the agriculture minister to apply a single purchase price to all wheat regardless of whether it was grown under or outside the plan. Mohammed said farmers who planted outside the official plan boosted local output and contributed to food security, adding that the price gap has caused significant losses for growers operating under the same conditions. Farmers in Kirkuk said problems surrounding the marketing of plan-external production have gone unresolved for weeks, with disputes over pricing and purchase volumes continuing. No further details on a resolution were immediately available.