Kurdistan Region exports 300 tons of potatoes to UAE

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Bawar Sabir Khoshnaw, a businessman in Erbil, told Kurdistan 24 that eight containers containing 300 tons of potatoes produced by farmers in Erbil Province were exported to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the support of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Khoshnaw also noted that despite the high quality of Kurdistan Region potatoes, their production level in Erbil is higher than the domestic needs.

Furthermore, he confirmed that the UAE asked them to continue exporting Kurdistan Region potatoes.

“The KRG has provided them with everything necessary to export Kurdistan Region potatoes to the UAE markets,” the Kurdish businessman added.

Meanwhile, Ahmed al-Faqi, an owner of a fruit and vegetable supply company in Dubai, said his company also imports potatoes from Pakistan, Egypt, and Lebanon, and he is happy to receive Kurdistan Region potatoes. In addition, al-Faqi said that Kurdistan Region potatoes are of high quality.

As part of the KRG's Ninth Cabinet's strategic agenda to ensure food security, improve the agricultural sector, and market farmers' products, potato production has increased by 200,000 tons in the past four years.

Read More: Kurdistan Region’s potato market net income valued at approx. $500 million

The Kurdistan Agriculture Export Initiative, launched in 2022, is central to the KRG’s progressive reform agenda to diversify the economy and boost the agricultural sector of the Kurdistan Region. Under this initiative, for the first time in Kurdistan Region’s history, pomegranates were exported to UAE markets.

This year at the Davos forum, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani promoted Barwari apples to business leaders, including the Majid Al-Futtaim Group of Companies–which owns Carrefour hypermarkets. After inspecting the apples and finding them of high quality, the company's CEO decided to purchase them.