Baghdad, Erbil sign agriculture deal to market poultry from Kurdistan in central, southern Iraq

Dler S. Mohammed 2021/11/06 13:12

Agricultural products are showcased at the Erbil Agricultural Fair, Nov. 3, 2021. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

Kurdistan Iraq Kurdistan Region Erbil Baghdad Agriculture Trade Economy

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The agriculture ministries of both Iraq’s federal government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil on Friday reached a deal valued at 10 billion Iraqi dinars ($6.8 million).

“We signed an agreement with the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture to transport the slaughtered and frozen chicken of the (Kurdistan) Region’s Akre district to central and southern Iraq,” said Hiwa Ali, a spokesperson for the KRG’s Ministry of Agriculture, told Kurdistan 24.

“We agreed on reactivating the representation offices of both the Iraqi federal government’s Ministry of Agriculture and the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Agriculture (and Water Resources) and in Erbil and Baghdad,” he explained.

He added that the state company run by Baghdad’s agriculture ministry “will handle the transportation of the agriculture and animal products between the region’s provinces and the rest of the Iraqi provinces.”

These agreements came following the three-day Erbil Agriculture Fair inaugurated by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Wednesday.

An estimated 60 companies from both the Kurdistan Region and Iraq have participated in the fair, organized by the KRG’s Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.

Aside from the obvious economic advantages of boosting local agriculture, it also is a key prerequisite to becoming as “food independent” as possible, an issue that has emerged in the minds of many after seeing the effects of both the coronavirus and shortages that resulted from embargoes Baghdad imposed on the autonomous region after its independence referendum of late 2017.

Over the past few years, farmers in the Kurdistan Region have called on the KRG to block the significant flow of foreign products that are already produced or grown domestically, lowering market prices to the point where it is difficult to make a living.