Erbil to inaugurate largest agricultural project in Kurdistan Region

The project includes glass houses and an international research center where 110 companies can showcase their agricultural products.
Agriculture project in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, June 15, 2022. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
Agriculture project in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, June 15, 2022. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The largest agricultural project in the Kurdistan Region will be inaugurated in Erbil in early September.

The project includes glass houses and an international research center where 110 companies can showcase their agricultural products. 

"We continually worked on this project during the past three years," Ayoub Nadir, the project's engineer, told Kurdistan 24. "The project features the newest technologies."

"Through this project, we can get a good product with the lowest cost," he added. 

The Netherlands, Germany, the United States, France, Belgium, and Italy are building the project. Local farmers will receive training courses in the project's research center. 

Read More: New joint KRG-Dutch agriculture policy paper to be published soon

"The project will produce high-quality products that will be exported outside of the Kurdistan Region," Rawaz Perot, the project's executive director, told Kurdistan 24. 

Since it entered office in 2019, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani's ninth cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has worked to improve the agricultural sector. 

It is in Barzani's cabinet program to develop the Kurdistan Region's agriculture sector alongside the energy sector to make the autonomous region more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. 

Read More: 'Agricultural sector important for developing any country': PM Barzani

"I have always believed that the agriculture sector is one of the main sectors for developing any country," Barzani told officials from the KRG Ministry of Agriculture on Monday. "Agriculture will ensure our people's food security and social stability."

In a tweet Monday night, the prime minister also said that "Kurdistan's agriculture has untold potential." 

"We want to see Halabja pomegranates compete globally; apples in the Berwari valley exported, walnuts from Hawraman, tahini from Amedi, figs of Akre, and other products each tell their own story in new markets," he said. 

"And we can do it."

Read More: PM Barzani decrees establishment of new agricultural directorates in independent administrations