MESOP : AVOID HOME GROWING CHEAPER PRODUCTS – Iraqi Kurdistan turns to imported vegetables amid security crisis

Reuters + nrttv – 11 June 2015 – SLEMANI, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— At the grocery market in the Kurdish city of Slemani (Sulaimaniyah), Turkish trucks deliver produce grown in Turkey, alongside shops selling products from Iran.Stalls at the city’s main vegetable and fruit wholesale market are filled with a wide variety of produce, seasonal and non-seasonal, yet local products are hard to find.

Vegetables and fruits that used to be grown in Iraq, like cucumber, oranges, tomatoes, and even onion, are now being imported from neighboring countries. Many here say that the ongoing security crisis in Iraq has hindered transport routes, making it all but impossible for homegrown produce to reach this area. Local farmers, like Rabi’ Dhari, blame the lack of government support. “Agriculture was good in Iraq. We plant all crops like cucumber, tomato, melon and all other kinds of vegetables. We even used to export dates. Now, there is no support from the government to the farmer is why agriculture in Iraq has sharply deteriorated,” said Dhari who fled from Diyala province, known for its agriculture.“We are bringing products from Syria, Turkey, Iran and even from European countries and from Africa. However, most of them are not as good as local products, and they are not even as tasty. They come in refrigerated trucks and take days to arrive,” Dhari added.

Food sold here comes from further afield, according to Deputy Director of Slemani’s Agriculture Department, Rizgar Khadar.

“If we take a general look at the markets, one can notice that previously we used to get oranges and lemons from southern and central areas [of Iraq]. Now, if you look at the at the markets, you will see that most of the citrus come from South Africa or from neighboring countries of the Kurdistan Region,” said Khadar adding that things have become worse since June last year, when Islamic State took over Mosul. “Most of the farmers left villages and came to the cities, this is one of the reasons why we have a shortage of agricultural production. The second reason is the production cost is higher than the cost in neighboring countries. Third reason is the climate and environmental changes in the region,” Khadar added. Iraq’s farming sector has suffered from decades of underinvestment and neglect. The country now only produces 30 percent of the food it consumes domestically, according to agriculture officials.Agriculture contributes about 10.2 percent to gross domestic product, according to government statistics, a relatively small slice of an emerging economy dominated by oil.

The sector has also suffered due to the presence of Islamic State in the country. Vast areas of planted fields and orchards in Salahaddin and Diyala provinces to the northwest and northeast of Baghdad in addition to vast arable lands of planted areas south of the capital were either ruined, flooded or scorched.Islamic State have captured large swaths of northern Iraq since June last year including vast arable lands in the provinces of Salahaddin and Nineveh. Despite land being regained by Iraqi forces many farmers have not returned to their farms out of fear of bombs and explosives left behind by the militants. Iraq is among the world’s top 10 importers of wheat and rice, purchased mostly for a huge public food ration scheme.Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, Reuters | nrttv.com