Iraq has procured 1.5 mln tons of wheat this year, INA reports

Iraq has procured 1.5 million metric tons of wheat so far this year, the state news agency (INA) reported on Monday.

Iraq’s agriculture ministry expects the country’s wheat harvest to exceed 7 million tons, INA reported in April.

“So far this year we managed to procure 1.5 million tons of wheat from all Iraqi provinces except the Kurdistan region,” Haider Nouri Al-Karaawi, general manager of the state-run Grain Board of Iraq, told INA.

Iraq, with a population of more than 43 million, requires between 4.5 million and 5 million tons of wheat a year, according to the agriculture ministry.

The country is seeking to be more self-sufficient in wheat, despite dwindling water supplies in its rivers, shifting to growing crops in desert areas using ground water.

Tags: wheat, Iraq, harvest