Agricultural Diseases and Weak Government Support: Farmers Trapped by Multiple Problems

Peregraf – Arsh Muhammad

The proliferation of agricultural diseases, poor-quality medicine, the high cost of agricultural necessities, the inability to market produce at appropriate prices, and weak government support are the main problems facing farmers in the Kurdistan Region. Agricultural diseases this year have caused enormous losses to farmers, with "some farmers suffering losses of 300 million Iraqi dinars ($210,000)." Due to the failure to allocate budget, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Agriculture cannot provide the necessary assistance and support to farmers.

The harvest season for summer fruits has ended, and farmers are awaiting rainfall to begin plowing and sowing grain seeds, but they are concerned that agricultural expenses have placed a tremendous burden on them. Farmers believe that what they ultimately harvest is not commensurate with their efforts.

Muhammad Hassan, one of the long-standing farmers of Sharazoor district, tells Peregraf: "The government not only fails to assist farmers as needed, but through bureaucratic procedures, non-procurement of our produce, and delay in our payments, it discourages us from farming."

This farmer indicates that government assistance would be encouraging for people to engage more in agriculture, stating: "In earlier years, the government of the defunct Iraqi Ba'athist regime distributed seeds, fertilizer, selected medicine, and manure to farmers, in addition to which the government sometimes sprayed pesticides by aircraft to eliminate harmful pests. At the same time, tractors and agricultural equipment were given to farmers on long-term installment plans."

Kurdistan's soil is among the best in the world for agriculture. The Sharazoor plain in Sulaymaniyah governorate ranks among the world's renowned and fertile plains, yet modern and advanced agricultural practices have not developed in the region to date. This is in addition to dozens of other problems and difficulties that obstruct agricultural progress.

Faraidoun Hassan, Director of the Sharazoor Agriculture Directorate, told Peregraf: "Due to the absence of budget and the ongoing financial crisis, our assistance to farmers is not at the level of our wishes or the farmers' either."

At the same time, the Director of Sharazoor Agriculture Directorate denies that all assistance to farmers has been suspended. Peregraf asked: What assistance do you provide to farmers? In response, he said: "We have reduced the price of one ton of grain seeds from one million Iraqi dinars ($700) to 450 thousand ($320), and 30 percent of agricultural medicines are provided to farmers by the government."

The KRG assistance to farmers has been suspended, or completely limited, particularly since 2014. This has been justified by the emergence of ISIS, the decline in oil prices, the emergence of financial crisis, and the non-receipt of budget from Iraq. However, after 11 years and the normalization of the region's situation, the effects of the financial crisis continue.

Shalaw Jamal, Director of Sulaymaniyah Agriculture Directorate, informed Peregraf: "Before 2014, through the Agricultural Bank, loans were given to farmers to purchase tractors and plowing and harvesting equipment, well drilling, and construction of water reservoirs, but these matters have been limited due to the financial crisis."

The inability to market produce in a manner that meets their expectations is another problem for farmers in the Kurdistan Region. Although the KRG Ministry of Agriculture, when domestic produce becomes available, bans the importation of foreign produce, farmers believe that even at those times the ministry cannot control the import of foreign produce, which continues to enter by smuggling.

Peregraf spoke with several farmers who revealed that: "Until now, the KRG Ministry of Agriculture and no other related party have been able at any time to control the smuggled importation of foreign produce; therefore, domestic produce yields minimal income for farmers, while wholesalers and retailers make far greater profits from it."

Proliferation of Disease and Poor Medicine

One of the major problems facing agriculture in the Kurdistan Region is the proliferation of agricultural diseases; worse still is the poor quality of agricultural medicine. High medicine prices, low-quality medicine, defective medicine, and improper medicine storage—these are the problems related to agricultural medicine.

Omar Karim, another farmer from the Sharazoor plain, told Peregraf: "Agricultural diseases are continuously increasing and changing; some agricultural diseases have existed for several years and have not yet been controlled or treated in Kurdistan Region."

This farmer also said: "Last year, due to drought, farmers turned more toward vegetable production, but crop diseases destroyed the efforts of some of our farmers. To the extent that some farmers incurred losses worth 300 million Iraqi dinars ($210,000), when a large tomato greenhouse was completely destroyed due to stem rot disease. Dozens of other farmers suffered losses ranging from five to 50 Iraqi million dinars ($3,500 to $35,000)."

Abdullah Muhammad, an expert in the field of pesticides and agricultural medicine, tells Peregraf: "The Iraqi government annually distributes Bayer-brand medicine for selecting grain produce to farmers at a subsidized price of 50 thousand Iraqi dinars ($35), but due to the high demand, farmers in central Iraq sell the product at higher prices to Kurdistan Region merchants, and Kurdish merchants who have acquired the product for 90 thousand Iraqi dinars ($63) sell it to Kurdish farmers in the Kurdistan Region for 150 to 200 thousand Iraqi dinars ($105 to $140)."

Abdullah Muhammad, who carries out the distribution of agricultural medicine in the Sharazoor plain area, attributes the reason Kurdistan Region farmers resort to purchasing medicine from farmers in southern and central Iraq to the fact that "70 percent of the chemical products in Kurdistan Region markets are of low quality."

A large portion of agricultural medicines are smuggled into the Kurdistan Region. As the pesticide and agricultural medicine expert says, another problem with the medicines is that "they are not stored properly, because many of those who manage agricultural offices do not have academic expertise."

Shalaw Jamal, General Director of Sulaymaniyah Agriculture Directorate, did not hide that the smuggling of agricultural medicine into Kurdistan Region markets and the lack of government control is one of the "main problems" of the Agriculture Directorate, but he emphasized that they continuously take measures against them.

"To control smuggled and defective chemical agricultural medicines, we have an ongoing monitoring team with the Sulaymaniyah Malpandi Qaimmaqamiate; annually, hundreds of tons of defective medicine are seized," the General Director of Sulaymaniyah Agriculture Directorate tells Peregraf.