Protest Gathering of Farmers in Ahvaz; Government Owes Wheat Farmers Thousands of Billions of Tomans

Reports from Iran indicate that at least 200 wheat farmers gathered in front of the Khuzestan governor's office in Ahvaz on Wednesday, June 6, to protest the non-payment of their claims. According to reports, the government owes thousands of billions of tomans to wheat farmers. Videos published on the 'Civil Market Protest' channel show law enforcement officials attempting to disperse the protesting farmers. The state news agency 'IRNA' also reported that wheat farmers protested with placards regarding the non-payment of their claims, quoting Azim-Safaei-Nejad, a representative of the protesting farmers, who stated that they delivered their wheat to the Grain Administration on the first day of Ordibehesht (April 20) and according to the law, payments should have been made 24 hours after delivery. According to this report, Mohammad Razi Jalali, the deputy coordinator of economic affairs in Khuzestan, promised some of these farmers that their claims would be paid next week. This promise was made while Ali Bahadori Jahromi, the government spokesman, stated on Wednesday that 'the necessary resources for settling the guaranteed wheat purchased from farmers have been planned so that the payment for wheat can be made quickly, allowing us to pay all wheat costs in the first six months.' However, in contradictory statements, Alireza Mohajer, the deputy of agriculture at the Ministry of Jihad for Agriculture, said on the same day that payments for the wheat sold by farmers at guaranteed prices would begin next week. The promises made by these two government officials did not mention the amount of debt that should be paid to wheat farmers. In recent weeks, government officials have promised to pay the claims of wheat farmers in Iran; promises that have not been fulfilled. A similar situation has existed in recent years, with farmers' claims being paid after months of delays. Meanwhile, according to 'Young Journalists Club,' Attaollah Hashemi, head of the National Wheat Farmers Foundation, stated that from Farvardin 10 (March 30) until today, about 1.35 million tons of wheat worth about 22 trillion tomans have been purchased from farmers, but not a single rial has been paid. The newspaper 'Shargh' reported that the heavy debt of the government to wheat farmers has left them indebted and reliant on brokers. This comes as the 'Shargh' newspaper on June 1 quoted Ali Gholi Eimani, head of the Wheat Empowerment Foundation, stating that since the beginning of the harvest season, 2.7 million tons of wheat have been purchased from farmers in 12 provinces, valued at over 46 trillion tomans, but only 2.3 trillion tomans, or about five percent of the claims of wheat farmers, have been paid. The news agency 'ISNA' also reported on Wednesday that the value of wheat purchased by the government is about 40 trillion tomans, of which only 2.3 trillion tomans has been paid. The 'Shargh' newspaper noted that this heavy debt of the government to wheat farmers has left them indebted and reliant on brokers, as the annual delays by governments in paying farmers' debts have led to liquidity shortages and delayed planting schedules, resulting in disorder and chaos in the agricultural product market. According to 'Shargh,' farmers say they have set the end of Ordibehesht (May) and Khordad (June) as the time for harvesting their products to pay their bank loan installments, but now the government has not paid them for their products, and banks are imposing late payment penalties on them, putting pressure on farmers. The newspaper wrote that many farmers, after harvesting spring wheat, must plant their second crop, but they lack the necessary liquidity to purchase agricultural inputs such as pesticides, fertilizers, and seeds, causing delays in planting their second crops. 'Shargh' pointed out that this issue has caused the average age of farmers to rise to over 57 to 58 years, and young people are no longer interested in entering the agricultural sector. In this context, the news agency 'Mehr' on Tuesday, June 15, quoted a farmer in Dezful County in Khuzestan province as saying, 'Farming is no longer profitable, and harvesting products is no longer enjoyable, because we, the farmers of Iran's agricultural hub, receive no support for cultivating other products, and sometimes we gain nothing but the indifference of time and the negligence of managers in producing strategic products.' Nasser Nazarzadeh, a farmer and CEO of the Agricultural and Horticultural Union of Dezful, stated in an interview with this news agency that more than a month has passed since the sale of wheat, and no amount has been deposited into farmers' accounts, adding, 'It was supposed to be deposited into our accounts 24 hours after the sale from the Targeted Subsidy Organization, but we are still complaining and waiting for our claims.' He added, 'Initially, the guaranteed purchase price of wheat was announced as 19,500 tomans, which was reduced to 17,500 tomans due to opposition from government officials, and then it was decided to allocate 2,000 tomans as a bonus for each kilogram of wheat, but it seems that there is no news regarding the allocation of the bonus either.' In recent years, the guaranteed purchase price of wheat has been a point of contention between the government and wheat farmers.