Increasing demand for potatoes from Kurdistan in Gulf countries

Following a satisfactory experience with exporting potatoes to the United Arab Emirates in recent weeks, several other Gulf states are now lining up to buy the starchy vegetable produced from the farms in the Kurdistan Region, according to a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Luqman Hajji, head of sales at the Kurdistan-Holland company for agricultural investments, told Rudaw on Wednesday that they had recently exported 300 tons of potatoes produced by Kurdish farmers to the UAE following a visit from the Emirati consul to the company’s storages.

Luqman Hajji:
 

"They [UAE] have now requested an additional 3,000 tons, which we have prepared and, God willing, will export to them soon. Other countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Greece are also in talks to buy the product."

According to Hajji, a portion of the demands comes from McDonald's restaurants in the Gulf states. The Kurdistan Region is projected to produce 750,000 tons of potatoes in 2023, according to a statement from the KRG which added that the government is now taking measures to curb the import of potatoes from other countries.

A main objective of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s 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.