Bêgerd Talabani, Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources in Iraqi Kurdistan, Baghdad, February 9, 2020. Photo: Rudaw TV
BAGHDAD,— A Kurdistan Regional Government KRG delegation arrived in Baghdad on Sunday to meet Iraqi government officials in order to discuss payments owed to Kurdish farmers and the building of dams in the Kurdistan Region.
The delegation, lead by the Minister for Agriculture Bêgard Talabani and Minister for Federal Affairs Khalid Shwani was received by Faris Issa, the Kurdistan Region’s representative in Baghdad.
“An agreement was reached on forming a high-level technical committee between the two ministries to put in place plans for the growth of agriculture,” Shwani said in a press conference.
“We believe that the meetings were positive, and we will continue our efforts to establish the best relations with the federal government through specialized ministries,” Shwan added.
The delegation also presented proposals for building five large dams in the Region.
“As you know, most of [Iraq’s] water sources spring from the Kurdistan Region. There were discussions over this and how to develop them through the building of dams and putting in place strategic plans for the future of Iraq’s water resources,” added Shwani.
The Kurdistan Region has many rivers, some of which originate in neighboring Iran and Turkey. According to experts, nearly 50 billion cubic meters of water pass through the Region annually.
According to these experts, however, more than 85% of the water passing through the Region is not stored in dams or otherwise used.
Iraqi Kurdistan Region is home to three large dams- Dukan, Darbandikhan, and Duhok- which collectively store more than 10 billion cubic meters of water.
Jammal al-Adili, the Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, told Rudaw that they will “work as one person”, and that the Kurdistan Region will also get the same privileges as the rest of Iraq.
“We are working in our house. We are the people [of the same country],” the minister said.
As for talks with the Ministry of Agriculture, Minister Talabani said that her Iraqi counterpart Salih Housni has “promised that there will be no difference between farmers in Iraq’s other provinces and the Kurdistan Region”.
“Of course, this has to manifest itself in all aspects, be it the acceptance of wheat, the marketing of domestic produce between the Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq,” added Talabani.
The high-level committee will be “formed as soon as possible” to resolve outstanding issues, explained Talabani.
Housni “confirmed that the ministry will stand with the agricultural demands of the region and will work to provide the requirements for farmers and enable them to obtain their dues”, an Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture readout of the meeting read.
Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture sets up annual plans for production of crops and produce, and wheat and barley get priority. In a central system, Iraq’s federal government buys wheat and barley produced by Iraqi farmers at subsidized prices, leaving more profit for higher farmers.
In 2014, using the pretext of Kurdistan Region’s independent oil sales, the Iraqi government cut the Region’s share of the federal budget. With it, in 2014, came cuts to farmer payments. For the years 2014, 2015, 2016, Kurdish farmers did not receive payment for their crops.
While the Kurdish side has insisted that the Iraqi decision was political, Iraq’s government has claimed that farmers in the Region had sold imported wheat to the federal government to cheat the system.
In a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday, al-Hassani told Rudaw that the Iraqi Agriculture Ministry will work with their KRG counterpart to solve issues faced by the regions’ farmers.
“There is no difference between a farmer in Kurdistan region with a farmer in Baghdad, and another in Basra,” al-Hassani said. “We look at all the farmers in Iraq the same way,”
Talabani told Rudaw that both ministers agreed to establish a committee to follow up on the agreements and decision reached by both sides.
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