Factory in Kalar produces 1,500 tons of mushrooms in 2023
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – A mushroom factory in the Kalar district of Garmiyan produces 1,500 tons of mushrooms annually, according to the factory’s chairman, Herish Muhammed.
"We have been able to provide local products and distribute them in Sulaimani and Kalar, as well as export mushrooms to central and southern Iraq,” the chairman noted.
The chairman also revealed that they plan to export mushrooms to Gulf countries in March 2024.
The factory has provided direct jobs for 50 people and, indirectly, created work for 150 contractors, who provide supplies to the factory for maintenance.
Kale Sherko, a young employee at the factory, said: “As a university graduate, I received a job in this factory. I hope more factories like this are opened in the future to create more job opportunities for young people.”
The Kurdistan Region is home to many wild mushrooms, and residents of rural areas commonly go foraging for the fungus during the rainy season. However, this is often ill-advised and dangerous, as many species in the Region are known to be poisonous.
In 2018, at least a dozen people from two families were hospitalized in Ranya of Sulaimani Province after consuming poisonous variants of fungi.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ninth Cabinet frequently trumpets its Agriculture Export Initiative, claiming that it is central to the KRG’s progressive reform agenda to diversify the economy and boost its agricultural sector.
Launched in 2022, agricultural production has grown significantly during its tenure, which has led to an increase in domestic production and exports of a large part of these products abroad, as the Cabinet has proclaimed.
Read More: PHOTOS: Mushroom harvesting goes wrong as 12 poisoned in Kurdistan Region’s Ranya
Editing by Dastan Muwaffaq
