Kurdistan farmers face wheat quota cut amid bumper harvest

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Farmers in the Kurdistan Region are expecting one of the strongest wheat harvests in recent years after abundant rainfall and snowmelt boosted water reserves and crop growth, but many say Baghdad’s decision to sharply limit purchases threatens to leave much of the yield unsold.

The Kurdistan Region has experienced a wetter season in 2026 compared with last year. According to the Kurdistan Region’s ministry of agriculture, rainfall and melting snow have caused 22 of the Region’s 25 dams to overflow, improving irrigation supplies and supporting rain-fed farming.

“This year’s wheat harvest will likely yield 15 to 20 times the seed planted, considering the size of the grain heads,” farmer Mahmood Karim told Rudaw. “No one has needed to irrigate their crops this year; the rainfall has been truly abundant, thank God.”

Despite expectations of a bumper harvest, Iraq’s federal government has decided to cap wheat purchases from the Kurdistan Region at just 290,000 tons this year - only a fraction of projected production.

“We have had massive rainfall in Kurdistan this year. We have a good wheat harvest, but the federal government will not accept our supply; they will only take 290,000 tons for all of Kurdistan,” farmer Yousif Ali told Rudaw. “We urge the KRG to revise the purchase quota with the federal government.”

The latest quota continues a downward trend in federal wheat purchases from the Kurdistan Region. Baghdad bought 700,000 tons from Kurdish farmers in 2024, reduced the amount to 400,000 tons in 2025, and cut it again to 290,000 tons this year.

Disputes between Erbil and Baghdad over budget transfers, oil exports, and agricultural coordination have repeatedly affected trade and procurement policies in recent years. Kurdish officials have long argued that farmers in the Region should be treated equally under Iraq’s national support programs.

Wheat is considered a strategic crop in Iraq, where authorities have sought to increase domestic production and reduce reliance on imports amid climate pressures and regional instability.