KRG rejects Baghdad’s wheat procurement quota as unfair to Kurdistan Region farmers

ERBIL — The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Agriculture has rejected the federal government’s plan to receive only 292,000 tons of wheat from the region’s silos this season, describing the quota as “unscientific and unrealistic” given projected production of between 1.5 million and two million tons.

The ministry said more than three million dunams of land have been cultivated with wheat this year, supported by higher than average rainfall, yet the federal quota falls far short of what local farmers can produce. A specialized committee in the Kurdistan Region formally rejected the proposal, saying “farmers in the Kurdistan Region should have the same rights granted to farmers in central and southern Iraq in the process of marketing and receiving wheat at silos.”

Iraq’s Ministry of Trade said earlier it had completed preparations for the 2026 wheat procurement season and that the measures support the government’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency. In 2025, Baghdad purchased more than 5.1 million tons of wheat nationally, contributing to a strategic reserve of around 6.5 million tons. The KRG’s objection suggests a significant share of this season’s Kurdistan Region harvest may go unabsorbed by the federal procurement system, potentially leaving farmers without a guaranteed buyer at the government’s fixed above-market prices.