Potato News from Iraq

The potato harvest in Iraq has started. Staff of the Beirut Erbil Potato Processing Company (B.E.P.P. Co) - known in Iraq for their potato chips brands Mito and Mr, Krisper, but active throughout the entire potato supply chain - are working hard in various regions of Iraq from Karbala to Diyala to Al-Rabiah, Dohuk, Erbil, and beyond.

Farmers dumped their potatoes in front of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s agriculture ministry in Erbil on Thursday, protesting banned imports that have pushed their produce out of the market.

The Kurdish Ministry of Agriculture predicts that farmers will plant more than 15,000 tons of seed potatoes in mid-February, increasing the amount of potatoes produced in the region.

Potato production in Kurdistan has seen a 13-fold increase over the last 7 years and is well above domestic demand, allowing export of the surplus. Nevertheless, potatoes have to be imported later in the season, since local potato storage capacity is lacking.

Bernard Quere, the Middle East envoy for the French agricultural agency France Obtention- whose slogan is L'Univers de la pomme de terre - had flown from Paris in November to sell seedlings cultivated by French farmers to Kurdish agriculturalists. By ...

Iraq's Ministry of Agriculture banned the import of potato seeds and called to rely on local products after they are subject to examinations by an an ad hoc ministerial committee, according to a Ministry release on Sunday. "The decision was taken...