Australian farmers threaten to sue over lost Iraq wheat sales

Australian farmers threaten to sue over lost Iraq wheat sales

Agence France-Presse Sydney

An alliance of Australian farmers warned Friday that they will sue the government if the valuable Iraqi market is lost after the war.

The farmers, from South Australia and Western Australia, have called on the government to protect their arrangements with Iraq, long one of their biggest and most valued markets, claiming future trade with post war Iraq is under threat.

The South Western alliance was concerned in the light of a US statement indicating the United States would seek to control the wheat trade in Iraq after the war, WA Farmers Federation president Colin Nicholl said.

SA Farmers Federation president John Lush said the Iraqi wheat trade is worth US$800 million a year, and about 9,000 South Western alliance farmers supplied most of it.

Nicholl said it was up to the Australian government to ensure future trade was not jeopardized.

"Australian farmers value the trade with Iraq and if it is lost we will pursue the federal government for compensation," he said.

The alliance also called on the government to organize food aid for the Iraqi people.

"Iraq has a fragile food chain supply and it is up to the Australian government to ensure the Iraqi people are not pushed into starvation as a result of this war," Nicholl said.

The Australian government announced Friday that it is sending two shiploads of wheat totaling 10,000 tons to help feed the people of Iraq after the war ends.

The wheat, worth an estimated A$30 million (US$17.7 million), is on top of the A$17.5 million in aid to post-war Iraq which the government had already promised.