Committee asks PM not to reduce prices of wheat, barley

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi parliament’s agriculture committee on Tuesday called on Premier Nouri al-Maliki to cancel the suggestion to reduce prices to buy wheat and barley from farmers. “We call on the premier to cancel the suggestion submitted by the Trade Ministry,” a member of the committee, lawmaker Jamal al-Bateekh, said in a press conference in Baghdad attended by IraqiNews.com news agency. “Farmers were given loans to farm their lands,” he said. The trade minister proposed to the cabinet to buy wheat and barley for 200 thousand Iraqi diners (ID) per ton, while at the beginning of the season, the Agriculture Ministry announced that the prices would be 850 thousand ID per ton of wheat and 725 thousand ID per ton of barley. MH (P)/SR 1