Iraq settles farmer payments following protest crackdown

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s cabinet on Tuesday approved the payment of farmers’ dues for the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 agricultural seasons after protests over delayed payments escalated in Baghdad.

The cabinet decided to delay the collection of land lease and irrigation fees until farmers’ wheat dues are settled, and directed the Finance Ministry to include loan amounts and accrued interest in the upcoming federal budget bill and provide guarantees for repayment to the Trade Bank of Iraq.

Wheat pricing and procurement terms for the 2025–2026 season were also revised, with the cabinet setting prices at 700,000 Iraqi dinars (about $467) per ton for crops within the agricultural plan and 500,000 dinars (about $333) for those outside it, alongside yield estimates of 900 kg per dunam for modern irrigation systems, 750 kg for irrigated land, and 300 kg for rain-fed areas, while allocating 400,000 tons to the Kurdistan Region, including 292,000 tons within the plan.

Hundreds of farmers from central and southern provinces gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on May 3 and attempted to march toward the Green Zone, demanding their financial entitlements and revisions to wheat pricing. Security forces used water cannons and electric stun devices to disperse them and block their advance across Al-Jumhuriya Bridge, leaving at least 17 injured.

Following the clashes, caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani ordered authorities to receive farmers’ demands and launched an investigation into the conduct of security forces.