Shafaq News- Baghdad

Dozens of Iraqi farmers blocked Baghdad’s Al-Jumhuriya Bridge leading to the Green Zone on Sunday, renewing protests over unpaid agricultural dues and delayed compensation payments.

Shafaq News correspondent said protesters gathered in Tahrir Square before cutting off access to the bridge, demanding the release of financial entitlements linked to previous farming seasons.

Last week, farmers from central and southern Iraqi provinces also staged protests, but security forces dispersed them using water cannons, injuring around 17 people. State of Law Coalition lawmaker Ibtisam Al-Hilali told Shafaq News at the time that farmers subjected to the crackdown were demanding an apology from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Interior Ministry over what she described as the “falling of their agal,” a symbolic tribal affront, as well as accountability for officers involved in the incident.

Iraq’s cabinet previously approved payment of farmers’ dues for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 agricultural seasons and revised wheat procurement prices to 700,000 dinars (around $535) per ton for crops included in the agricultural plan, according to government statements. Kirkuk lawmaker Mohammed Ali Al-Nuaimy warned that delayed payments threaten cultivation cycles and Iraq’s food security, describing farmers’ dues as a “legitimate right that cannot be postponed.”

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