Duhok Farms Yields 7,000 Tons of Fruit, Farmers Seek Canning Plants
Kani Masi in Duhok province recorded over 7,000 tons of apples and pomegranates this season, as farmers urge canning and juice factories to curb losses.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Orchards in the Barwari Bala sub-district in Amedi District within the Dohuk Governorate are enjoying an exceptional farming season marked by abundant, high-quality crops, led by apples and pomegranates. Yet the bounty has once again confronted farmers with the challenge of marketing and preserving their surplus, amid calls on the government and the private sector to build processing and canning factories.
This season, Kani Masi recorded production of more than 6,000 tons of apples, both yellow and American red, in addition to over 1,000 tons of “Qamari” pomegranates, known for their balanced flavor and rich juice.
These high figures come as a result of the return of security stability to border villages and towns, which allowed farmers to tend their land and harvest their crops safely.
Farmer Yusuf Salih said to Kurdistan24, that the quality of the area’s apples rivals imported fruit, noting that the lack of sufficient marketing outlets causes farmers heavy losses.
He said: “Our harvest is very abundant and of high quality, but we urgently need factories to produce juices and jams here in Kani Masi, so that the produce does not spoil, and so we can recover the costs of farming, pesticides and fertilizers and earn a fair financial return.”
For his part, farmer Omar Kamil stressed that Barwari Bala pomegranates have a distinguished commercial reputation that qualifies them to enter major food production lines.
He said: “Our pomegranates lack nothing in color, taste or size. What is needed today is the establishment of packing and canning plants to enhance the added value of our fruit and open up jobs for the people of the area.”
Barwari Bala is regarded as an integrated food basket producing apples, pomegranates, cherries, persimmons and various types of mountain fruit.