SORAN, Kurdistan Region - Tomato farmers in the Kurdistan Region say they are making a loss after a tough year, dealing with water shortages and finding a market for their produce. “I spent 20 million dinars ($13,700) on irrigation hoses. I now have to sell my tomatoes for 250 to 300 dinars per kilo. I’m making a loss,” Dashti Hamid farmer, a farmer from Ene village in Erbil’s Choman district, said on Tuesday. Because of water shortages, farmers had to pay out for new irrigation systems that conserved water. Now that they are harvesting the fruit, they are having problems competing with cheaper imports to find a market. “A kilogram of tomatoes costs an estimated 550 to 600 dinars to produce. Currently, it sells for between 200 and 300 dinars,” said farmer Anwar Assad. The Harir tomato paste factory is able to process 100 tons of tomatoes daily, but it stopped work two months ago because it can’t afford to pay the price demanded by farmers. Factory supervisor Shwan Abdulhamid said they can resume operations if they can buy tomatoes for 200 dinars per kilo. “Buying them for 200 dinars per kilo means we’ll lose a little money, but it will benefit us in two ways. First, our factory won’t stop operating and the workers and engineers will keep working. Second, the farmers will find a market for their produce and won't throw them away,” he said. The Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources on Tuesday lifted tariffs on tomato imports, as well as cucumbers, eggplant, okra and peppers, saying it aims to "control the fluctuations of market prices.” Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
