EBRIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region’s farmers sold over a million tons of locally produced fruits and vegetables to central and southern Iraq in 2024, according to official data.
“In 2024, we provided about 41,000 trucks with support letters, which carried about 750,000 tons of local produce to central and southern Iraq,” Hoshyar Jalil, an official from Erbil’s agricultural directorate, told Rudaw on Tuesday.
He added that the shipments were made after the local demand was met.
Watermelon, melon, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, eggplant, and peppers are Kurdistan Region’s main local products exported annually to the federally-controlled areas.
About 375,000 tons of produce were exported from Sulaimani to the same destinations in the first ten months of 2024, according to the Sulaimani Agricultural Directorate.
Jihan Rasoul, spokesperson for the Duhok Agriculture Directorate, told Rudaw that 253,905 tons of local produce were exported from the province to central and southern Iraq last year.
The total export figure for 2024 in the Region neared 1.4 million tons of fruits and vegetables.
Summer is considered the golden season for ripening agricultural products in the Region, with the highest exports recorded during this period.
A main objective of the current Kurdistan Regional Government cabinet has been to diversify the Region’s economy and take advantage of its fruitful agricultural capabilities to export goods abroad, despite the majority of its agricultural products being imported from neighboring Iran and Turkey.
The Kurdistan Region in December 2022 made the first-ever export of its renowned pomegranates to Gulf countries, marking the Region's first major non-oil export and a landmark step in broadening the economy.
