Iraqi minister of trade promised Kirkuk farmers to allocate 261 billion Iraqi Dinars ($180M) as part payment for when a delivered by Kirkuk farmers to Iraqi government in the past years.
Iraqi farmers delivered wheat to the government which turns it to flour and distributes it as an item in the food ration package that each Iraqi family is supposed to receive on monthly bases as a subsidized state plan since the 1980s.
Ala Ahmed al-Jibiouri, minister of trade, said in joint press conference on Thursday, Kirkuk Now correspondent attended, with acting governor of Rakan al-Jibouri, that Kirkuk farmers have received half of their due payments.
Kirkuk farmers protested delay in the payment several times as they deliver wheat every year while the Iraqi government is not paying them regularly. “This problem exists in the province of Kirkuk, Mosul, Diyalah and Salahaddin as the farmers commence wheat harvest in April thus their payments are delayed but we are trying to punt an end to this problem," the minister added.
The northern oil rich and multiethnic city of Kirkuk has 1.5 billion square meters of which 0.9 billion is allocated for wheat, statistics of directorate of Kirkuk agriculture shows in 2020.
Part of Kirkuk farmers have not been paid for the last seven years since problem is repeated every year and this issue is to be solved, acting governor said in the press conference.
The minister has opened a center of food ration coupons as the population is going up in Kirkuk. “We will try to do the procedures online now on,” the minster added.
The ministry has decided to distribute bimonthly basket instead of monthly including only four items (flour, rice, oil and sugar) in order to reduce expenditure of the Iraqi government which suffers a severe budget deficit in 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic that led to fall demand on oil, main source of Iraq revenues.
Despite the giant budget allocated for food ration in Iraq, people rarely use the items for its poor quality and corruption in distribution. In the last seven months, only two food baskets were distributed, people told Kirkuk Now in a March 2020 report.
