"We are currently issuing support letters for 300-400 trucks of domestic produce daily to take their goods to central and southern Iraqi provinces," Hoshyar Jalil, head of agricultural customs supervision in Erbil, told Rudaw on Sunday.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has identified agriculture as a sector it wants to develop as part of efforts to diversify the economy away from oil.
Most of the produce is sent from Erbil province, followed by Sulaimani (including Halabja) and Duhok respectively.
In Sulaimani, the authorities issue up to 75 support letters for trucks to take their products to the southern provinces, according to Jutyar Khalid, the deputy head of the Sulaimani agriculture directorate. Each truck can transport up to 15 tons of vegetables and fruits.
Sarwar Ali, head of the Sulaimani syndicate for grocery markets, told Rudaw that the most exported products to Iraq are cucumbers and zucchini.
In Duhok, grocery markets have transported nearly 40,000 tons of vegetables and fruits to Iraqi provinces.
“This month, 37,967 tons of produce have been exported to other Iraqi provinces,” Ahmed Jamil, director general of agriculture in Duhok, told Rudaw.
Duhok exports have seen an increase. In May, the province transported only 4,518 tons to the Iraqi provinces according to Jamil.
A main objective of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s cabinet has been to diversify the Region’s economy and take advantage of its 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.
