Nearly 500 tons of Kurdistan Region potatoes exported to UAE

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Nearly 500 tons of Kurdistan Region potatoes are being exported to the United Arab Emirates on Monday, as part of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) efforts to internationally market the local produce.

Trucks loaded with the produce started to leave Erbil on Monday morning from one of the capital’s fruit and vegetable warehouses in the presence of several KRG officials, business owners, and the UAE consul general in Erbil.

The Kurdistan Region produced 650,000 tons of potatoes this year while the domestic need for the produce is only 100,000 tons, Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw said, hailing the government efforts and projects for increasing the produce.

Khoshnaw said the 550,000 ton surplus will be exported, Khoshnaw added. 

Another 13,000 tons of potatoes are set to be exported to the Gulf in the future, Kurdistan 24 has learned.

The UAE received Kurdistan Region’s pomegranates last year, marking the first Gulf country to have received Kurdish produce.

In a bid to further support farmers and increase their skills, the KRG has recently launched providing training courses to farmers.  

The government has been in contact with various regional market leaders and governments in order to draw their attention to the Kurdish produce, which has been hailed as “premium grade,” Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has said on several occasions.

Honey and apples will also be exported to the Gulf countries in 2023, according to the government.

"Kurdistan Region could become Iraq's food basket," Barzani said in a televised interview aired last December while speaking on his cabinet's efforts to develop the sector.

Additional reporting by Kurdistan 24 Erbil reporter Renas A. Saeed