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| KURDISTAN | FOOD & AGRICULTURE SECTOR | |
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| Topic Started: 9th December 2012 - 01:24 AM (41,745 Views) | |
| ALAN | 9th December 2012 - 01:24 AM Post #1 |
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please post the food related news in this thread Supas Alan  |
 
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| ALAN | 9th December 2012 - 01:26 AM Post #2 |
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Kurdistan’s food security begins at home If Mesopotamia is the cradle of civilisation, the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in the north gave birth to agriculture. The first crops were planted in these fertile plains and mountain valleys and animals are said to have been domesticated on the area’s ideal pastoral land seven millennia ago. But if the region was once the bread basket of Mesopotamia , renowned for its top-quality wheat, it is now an increasingly large consumer of imported food. Turkey, Kurds’ strongest trade partner, imported about $7bn worth of goods into northern Iraq last year, the majority of which was food, officials say. Iran, the area’s second largest importer, is another important source for food, especially livestock. As the oil boom translates into an ever greater appetite for meat, the region now only produces a fifth of its red meat and a quarter of its poultry – and even then the feed is imported. “Food security is like national security,” says Talib Elam, agriculture adviser to the prime minister of the Kurdish Regional Government. “We need to grant the same attention to chicken feed as we do to F-16s.” Arable land spans 28 per cent of the territory controlled by the KRG, a large amount for the arid Middle East, but the agricultural sector has been undermined by the grim history of these lands. In the 1980s, the regime of Saddam Hussein cleared more than 4,000 villages to suppress dissent in the restive rural region. Officials also blame the oil-for-food programme, under which the sanctioned Iraqi state bought food and medicine in exchange for oil exports from 1996. The programme led to a national dependence on free food imports that undermined domestic agriculture further. Through the 1990s, urbanisation sped up further, with thousands of youngsters moving to the cities, breaking the bond of the intergenerational farming experience. “We need to close the generational gap and get people farming again,” says Mr Elam, formerly of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. The collapse of domestic produce is apparent when looking for Erbil’s renowned white sheep’s cheese, Kurdish produce once prized across KRG. While Turkish manufactured produce and Iranian vegetables are plentiful, only a few stores sell the pungent delicacy in Erbil’s covered souk. To revive agriculture, Mr Taleb wants the government to up the percentage of its budget devoted to agriculture from the current level of 2 per cent to closer to 10 per cent, in line with UN recommendations. The average in food-importing states is about 5 per cent. Mr Taleb also warns of a threat to its water resources, primarily because of overuse and diversion from upstream sources in Turkey and Iran, he says. The KRG needs to reserve more land for cultivation and rearing livestock, while intervening more regularly in the market to protect domestic production against cheaper imports, as the agriculture ministry did earlier this year with a five-month ban on some imported produce. “Some in the government say we need to encourage the free market, but then they don’t believe in self-sufficiency,” says Mr Elam. “For food security this is a must.” The government says it is helping town dwellers to move back to the country with low-interest loans for house building. Extending the electricity grid to cover 80 per cent of rural areas is also aiding repopulation of arable land, which covers more than a quarter of Iraqi Kurdistan, one of the highest percentages in the Middle East. “It’s helping, the level of wheat and barley production is already increasing, but we need to do more to reduce imports,” says Herish Muharam, chairman of the KRG’s board of investment. Agriculture is one of three sectors – along with industry and tourism – that the government is seeking to promote via special incentives, including tax breaks for foreign investors. As well as wheat and barley, cash crops such as nuts, tobacco and even truffles from the region’s oak forests, could add to the KRG’s emerging oil wealth. Some returning expatriates are bringing new horticultural techniques from abroad, such as mushroom cultivation, but the sector as a whole has yet to take off. Mr Muharam argues that there are signs of hope. A few years ago, Kurdistan – like other areas of Iraq – was importing bottled water. The emergence of industrial plants has made the region almost self-sufficient in bottled water, with 70 per cent produced locally, says Mr Muharam. One example is Life Water, produced by family-owned conglomerate UB Holding which now operates one of the largest bottling factories in the Middle East, in the northern Iraqi town of Zakho. “We used to import all of this and now we are selling it throughout Kurdistan,” he says. |
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| ALAN | 9th December 2012 - 01:29 AM Post #3 |
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Prof. Baban: Kurdish agricultural production should be self-sufficient 27-10-2012 Minister Baban: Kurdish agricultural production should be self-sufficient and untimely provide food security for the region By Lorin Sarkisian and Roni Alasor, Ararat News-Publishing (ANP), 26 October 2012 - World Kurdish Congress 2012 with the participation of over 600 Kurdish and foreign scientists successfully ended in the middle of October in the Kurdish capital Erbil. Ararat News-Publishing (ANP) continues the coverage of the event with summary of some of the most interesting presentations on the Congress. Professor Serwan Baban, Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of Federal Kurdistan Region, presented the current challenges and opportunities in the agricultural sector in Kurdistan. Minister Baban, who was previously a Professor of Geoinformatics and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kurdistan-Hawler, presented in detailed figures the production of Kurdistan Region in different agricultural sectors and revealed a Roadmap containing specific objectives, benchmarks and deliverables all tied to defined timeframes and he also summarised the necessary plans and steps to overcome the present weaknesses. Minister Baban underlined that the Kurdish society is traditionally agricultural and today it is vitally important to rehabilitate this important sector: "Agriculture has been totally devastated through years of neglect, internal conflicts, disincentive through eviction, years of sanctions, and the UN oil for food program which ignored local food production and more recently by large quantities of relatively cheap food products from neighbouring countries. Kurdistan went from being a producer to a consumer", regretted Minister Baban. Among the immediate priorities in the work of the Agriculture Ministry, Baban listed “the rebuilding of village life through provision of educational facilities, health clinics, roads, clean drinking water and electricity and the achievement of food self-sufficiency and security”.  Minister Serwan Baban presented detailed figures about the current agricultural production and the objectives to achieve. The production of oat, corn, sunflower, red meat, milk, tomatoes, grapes, apples and other fruits in 2011 was less than 50 % of the required self-sufficiency for the Region and need to be significantly increased. For 2013 the Kurdish Agricultural Ministry expects to produce two times more red meat (40 000 tones) and oat (150 000 tones) and four times more eggs (1.170.000.000). The fruit sector needs most of all to be progressively developed. Only 30 % of the needed fruits quantity will be reached in 2013, while the vegetable production will achieve 80 % sufficiency next year. In order to support the farmers and to stimulate the plant and animal production, the Kurdish Ministry will insure the use of “new methods and technology, the improvement of farm equipment, the introduction of transport subsidy, modern machinery and training in contemporary agricultural methods and techniques as well as health and safety issues”. Providing sustainable sources of water for Kurdistan Region is also one of the top priorities of the Agricultural Ministry. Even though Kurdistan is rich of rivers, lakes and water resources, the negative water policy of the neighbouring countries to build dams and to stop the water flows, could put the Kurdistan Region’s water situation at risk. In the coming years Kurdistan Region is planning to undertake several measures to stimulate local production and to achieve self-sufficiency. Among the future implemented policies will be protection and improvement of the domestic produce by banning imports. The imports will be firstly suspended on temporary basis for seasonal produce and later interrupted on a permanent basis for the commodities that KRG reached self sufficiency. Minister Baban provided some critical reflections on his own Ministry, pointing out the need for re-structuring the Ministry, training staff to make them the fit for purpose, managing staff appointments through applying “transparency and fair competition and by appointing through advertisement”. Another target for the Agricultural Ministry management is to “focus on gender equality and promote the role of women and youth in the Ministry”. |
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| ALAN | 9th December 2012 - 01:30 AM Post #4 |
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Kurdistan is investing billions to be self sufficient by 2013 "Times news paper" in Jan 2009 KRG unveiled its five year strategic development plan for the agricultural sector with the intention of becoming self-sufficient in food production by 2013. this goal demanded a 100% increase in output over the period something which should be achievable given that in 2009 only 1.3 million acres out of a possible 3.8 million were under cultivation. "we need $10 billion to implement the plan" says KRG Minister of agriculture and water resources, Jameel Sulaiman Haider."we have been concentrating on grain ,fruit and veges during the 1st two years.Regarding grain we have reached 500,000 tons of wheat and our goal for dairy products". there are however plentiful water suppliers in Kurdistan the Minister notes and 30% of funds will be dedicated to irrigation to ensure shortages do not prove an obstacle to future harvests. in 2010 the region exceeded its wheat target by 20% but only produced just over half of its 650,000 ton vege needs while fruit and animal production continued to lag. greenhouses of which the Ministry has distributed some 14000 to local farmers looks set to boost output and improve models are scheduled for delivery in 2011. up to 50% of the regions export are expected to be grown under cover in the future. http://web.krg.org/uploads/documents/KurdistanTimes_2011__01.pdf |
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| Qandil | 12th December 2012 - 12:41 AM Post #5 |
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Kurdistan’s food security begins at home If Iraq is the cradle of civilisation, the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north gave birth to agriculture. The first crops were planted in these fertile plains and mountain valleys and animals are said to have been domesticated on the area’s ideal pastoral land seven millennia ago. But if the region was once the bread basket of Iraq, renowned for its top-quality wheat, it is now an increasingly large consumer of imported food. Turkey, Kurds’ strongest trade partner, imported about $7bn worth of goods into northern Iraq last year, the majority of which was food, officials say. Iran, the area’s second largest importer, is another important source for food, especially livestock. As the oil boom translates into an ever greater appetite for meat, the region now only produces a fifth of its red meat and a quarter of its poultry – and even then the feed is imported. “Food security is like national security,” says Talib Elam, agriculture adviser to the prime minister of the Kurdish Regional Government. “We need to grant the same attention to chicken feed as we do to F-16s.” Arable land spans 28 per cent of the territory controlled by the KRG, a large amount for the arid Middle East, but the agricultural sector has been undermined by the grim history of these lands. In the 1980s, the regime of Saddam Hussein cleared more than 4,000 villages to suppress dissent in the restive rural region. Officials also blame the oil-for-food programme, under which the sanctioned Iraqi state bought food and medicine in exchange for oil exports from 1996. The programme led to a national dependence on free food imports that undermined domestic agriculture further. Through the 1990s, urbanisation sped up further, with thousands of youngsters moving to the cities, breaking the bond of the intergenerational farming experience. “We need to close the generational gap and get people farming again,” says Mr Elam, formerly of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. The collapse of domestic produce is apparent when looking for Erbil’s renowned white sheep’s cheese, Kurdish produce once prized across Iraq. While Turkish manufactured produce and Iranian vegetables are plentiful, only a few stores sell the pungent delicacy in Erbil’s covered souk. To revive agriculture, Mr Taleb wants the government to up the percentage of its budget devoted to agriculture from the current level of 2 per cent to closer to 10 per cent, in line with UN recommendations. The average in food-importing states is about 5 per cent. Mr Taleb also warns of a threat to its water resources, primarily because of overuse and diversion from upstream sources in Turkey and Iran, he says. The KRG needs to reserve more land for cultivation and rearing livestock, while intervening more regularly in the market to protect domestic production against cheaper imports, as the agriculture ministry did earlier this year with a five-month ban on some imported produce. “Some in the government say we need to encourage the free market, but then they don’t believe in self-sufficiency,” says Mr Elam. “For food security this is a must.” The government says it is helping town dwellers to move back to the country with low-interest loans for house building. Extending the electricity grid to cover 80 per cent of rural areas is also aiding repopulation of arable land, which covers more than a quarter of Iraqi Kurdistan, one of the highest percentages in the Middle East. “It’s helping, the level of wheat and barley production is already increasing, but we need to do more to reduce imports,” says Herish Muharam, chairman of the KRG’s board of investment. Agriculture is one of three sectors – along with industry and tourism – that the government is seeking to promote via special incentives, including tax breaks for foreign investors. As well as wheat and barley, cash crops such as nuts, tobacco and even truffles from the region’s oak forests, could add to the KRG’s emerging oil wealth. Some returning expatriates are bringing new horticultural techniques from abroad, such as mushroom cultivation, but the sector as a whole has yet to take off. Mr Muharam argues that there are signs of hope. A few years ago, Kurdistan – like other areas of Iraq – was importing bottled water. The emergence of industrial plants has made the region almost self-sufficient in bottled water, with 70 per cent produced locally, says Mr Muharam. One example is Life Water, produced by family-owned conglomerate UB Holding which now operates one of the largest bottling factories in the Middle East, in the northern Iraqi town of Zakho. “We used to import all of this and now we are selling it throughout Iraq,” he says. Source: http://pukmedia.co/english/index.php/77/kurdistan-region/3359-kurdistan%E2%80%99s-food-security-begins-at-home |
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| ALAN | 12th December 2012 - 02:04 AM Post #6 |
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 it is already posted heval, but i have combined the two threads now 
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| Qandil | 12th December 2012 - 03:03 AM Post #7 |
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Thanks.
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| ALAN | 19th December 2012 - 01:12 AM Post #8 |
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 SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – When Kurdish businessman Faraydoon Salih loaded up a few tons of Hawraman pomegranates and set off for Dubai, he was betting on the quality of a fruit he knew had few rivals. The sweet, juicy and wine-red pomegranates put entries from other countries at a Dubai fair to shame. “Hawraman pomegranates ranked the tastiest and highest quality among pomegranates from 93 other countries,” Salih proudly says. “Among pomegranate from all other countries our pomegranates, Indian pomegranate and to some extend Iranian pomegranates, were in demand by buyers from other countries,” he says. “Hawraman pomegranate, like Indian pomegranate, is one of the highest in quality and sales in world markets,” Salih told Rudaw. In order to cash in on the wonder fruit, at the beginning of this year Salih and another Kurdish businessman established the Mexak Company, whose goal is to introduce agricultural products from Hawraman to the outside world. Now, Mexak has 200 tons of pomegranates ready for export. But while the demand is in place, the logistics of getting the fruit to eager consumers are not. “Unfortunately, we cannot export the produce directly from Kurdistan, because we don’t have cargo planes at Kurdistan airports. “The produce must be transported via Amman and Beirut, and this adds to the cost,” he added. “This difficulty in transporting the goods has been a hurdle,” he said. Pomegranates from Halabja and Sharazoor can meet demand from the entire Sulaimani province. The two regions are famed for their pomegranate, and for other fruits like grapes and apples. In 2010, Mexak introduced Hawraman pomegranates at an agricultural fair in Britain, where the fruit again came out top among entries from dozens of other countries. “Now, Hawraman pomegranates are well known in Britain, Dubai and other international markets,” Salih says. “There is also demand as far away as the United States. American companies are willing to pay $8,000 dollars for each ton of our pomegranate,” Salih says, but adds that due to high transportation costs his company was “unable to reach an agreement with American companies.” |
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| Qandil | 27th December 2012 - 08:28 AM Post #9 |
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Mushroom Farming Takes Root in south kurdistan Until very recently, residents of the Kurdistan Region could purchase mushrooms only in the spring, when mushrooms grew naturally. HAWRAMAN, Kurdistan Region – Mushroom farming is taking root in south kurdistan, with new farms opening and producers eyeing local demand and exports. Askandar Kaykhusraw, a medical institute graduate who opted for a different career and recently opened a mushroom farm in the Hawraman region, said that production was aimed at about five tons annually. “Just as Hawraman pomegranates made it to international markets, we are hoping to produce enough to meet the Kurdistan market demand and then export to international markets,” Kaykhusraw told Rudaw. Until very recently, residents of the Kurdistan Region could purchase mushrooms only in the spring, when mushrooms grew naturally. This led to high demand and high prices on imported mushrooms that came mainly from neighboring Iran. “The weather in Kurdistan is suitable for producing mushrooms. From February to June mushrooms grow naturally,” said Rizgar Muhammed Agha, the director of Sulaimani Farming. He said that besides two farms, in Askandar and Hawraman, a third would open in Penjwen, adding that the quality of locally-grown mushrooms was just as good as those produced abroad. Hawraman resident Mariwan Ali, who advocates a vegetarian diet, now has an easy answer for those who ask him, “if we don’t eat meat, what should we eat?” “Eat mushrooms,” he says. “Mushrooms compensate for meat.” But Dr. Rafeeq M. Salih, dean of nutrition sciences at Sulaimani University, said that while mushrooms contained many vitamins and were low in cholesterol, “The amount of protein in mushrooms is not enough to substitute meat.” Wurya Ali, an engineer at Hawraman farm, said that the mushrooms were grown naturally, without chemicals. “The production of the mushrooms is very simple: No chemicals are used. We only use hay and American mushroom seeds from Florida.” Kaykhusraw said he had bigger plans for his venture. “We are also thinking about producing our own mushroom seeds, and maybe in the near future we will open two mushroom restaurants, one in Sulaimani and the other in Hawraman.” Source: http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5585.html |
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| ALAN | 23rd January 2013 - 03:45 PM Post #10 |
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New complex for vegetable and fruit marketing - Sulaimani (3alwa) One of "Rozhi nwe" company's successful projects is the Alwa of Sulaimani. The new complex for vegetable and fruit marketing has been implemented at total coast of $14,000,000 (fourteen million US Dollars). The project has been built on a land with an area of 130.000 m2. The complex consists of 184 blocks each with 136 m2, 60 shops, a restaurant, 40 stores each with 136 square meters, 3 platform scales for heavy trucks, four buildings each with 1000 square meters used for monitoring, heath centre, police station, and office of the implementing company. The project also includes two big fridges installed on 4000 square meters with capacity of keeping 1,200,000 tons of fruit for 3 to 9 months. The project has been implemented as per international standards. The project is located near Hawari Shar park.
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| Halo | 27th January 2013 - 11:41 AM Post #11 |
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Têkoşer
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Domestic poultry production supplies more than half of domestic demand Poultry plants produced around 60 thousand kilograms of chicken last year According to the most recent report by the livestock directorate at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), there are 972 properly licensed poultry projects in the region. Ramazan Mohammed Karim, head of the livestock directorate of the agriculture ministry, believes that Kurdistan is in need of around 100 thousand tons of chicken per year. The report mentions that not all of the poultry plants listed were producing, and some of them were not operating at all. Dr. Azad Khoshnaw, a veterinarian and media director at the livestock and veterinary directorate general told the Kurdish Globe that only 632 (i.e. 65%) of the poultry plants in the region are operational and productive. Haidar Farhan Hassan, chairman of the Kurdistan higher board of poultry industry, on the other hand, believes that the percentage of producing projects is only 40%. "If all projects operate with full capacity, they can meet 100% of the domestic demand," argues Hassan. "If the poultry projects can be supported by the government in the right way and the import of foreign poultry products can be controlled, then the region can be self-sufficient in meeting poultry demands." Currently, the market demand is satisfied with imports from Turkey and Brazil. Governmental assistance during 2012 According to the livestock directorate's report, the government has supported those poultry project owners who have marketed their poultry through the slaughterhouses, by offering a financial support of IQD 350 (approximately US$ 0.30) per kilogram of chicken. Hassan told the Kurdish Globe that their competitive advantage in comparison with their Turkish and Brazilian competitors is that they have fresh chickens; while in the frozen chicken they cannot compete with the imported products. The total amounts of financial support were IQD 4 billion (approximately US$ 3.4 million), in addition to slaughtering price support and a 50% subsidy on 3 tons of soya distribution over poultry plants. Poultry owners, however, prefer to get subsidized feeds rather than soya. "If we get 50% subsidized feeds for only one year, we can resume production in all poultry plants in the region," argues Hassan in an interview with the Globe. There are 8 poultry slaughterhouses with a total slaughtering capacity of 33,000 poultry per hour. Moreover, the region has 14 feed production plants with a collective capacity of 186 tons per hour. Egg production in Kurdistan Besides the chicken meat as the main product, the poultry plants in Kurdistan produce eggs and other products. Khoshnaw told the Globe that the poultry plants have produced more than 400 million eggs in 2012. In addition, as per the data mentioned in the report, there are 6 egg production plants with a capacity of 335 tons of eggs for consumption, while there are 27 plants that incubate 112 million eggs in one year. |
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| ALAN | 13th February 2013 - 03:10 AM Post #12 |
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A farmer builds a unique Poultry farm for live stock A villager from Qula Barzni form Pebaz sub-district, builds a unique Poultry for live stock, which operates automatically, and the Veterinarians confirm that this kind of poultry will be decease free for the live stock. Salih Maroof, the owner of the project told (PUKmedia) that, "the project cost me $170,000, it can bear 20,000 baby chickens all at the same time, it has all the required facilities for a modern poultry like a vandalism system, humidity balancer, the animal's feeds, growing mechanism and basically all set up to operate automatically rather than manually". Regarding the death of the live stock, Salih says that "if the normal poultries have a death rate of 15%, our one does not even reach up to 5%, and also it protects the live stock from decease". Dr. Aram Ahmed, a veteran told (PUKmedia) that "these kind of projects are very successful, because it includes all the growing mechanism for the chooks, which works as a gaining factor for decreasing death rate, as well as profit margins". "because everything is almost done automatically and there are hardly any workers in the farm, you will have a much smaller death and decease rate at the end of the day". PUKmedia |
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| ALAN | 13th February 2013 - 03:11 AM Post #13 |
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great effort by him well done, i swear to bob this is not done from the 17% budget i-rack sends us for absorbing our region 80 years ago 
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| ALAN | 13th February 2013 - 03:46 AM Post #14 |
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here is a better pic of the above Poultry farm
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| ALAN | 20th February 2013 - 03:55 AM Post #15 |
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This farmer in Germyan area got his farm running from KRG's agricultural loan :thumbsup:
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| ALAN | 22nd February 2013 - 12:01 AM Post #16 |
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Building Strong Agriculture foundations in the Kurdistan Region. By Demitris Kotsabassidis MSc, MBA Historically, 50 to 60 percent of Iraq’s arable land has been under cultivation. The most valuable farmland is in Kurdish territory and has not contributed to the national economy, as it could over the past decades mostly by agricultural policies under Saddam Hussein who discouraged domestic market production. After the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the farmers in this mountainous region of Iraqi Kurdistan in many ways, have never had it so good, because they not suffer the same level of violence as the rest of the country. This region of the mountainous Kurdistan has a Mediterranean climate and common advantages as in Greek Mediterranean cultivation. This home to the oldest agricultural traditions in the World, was the centre of domestication for a remarkable array of today’s primary agricultural crops and livestock animals. Wheat, barley, rye, lentils, sheep, goats, and pigs were all originally brought under human control around 8000 BCE. The beginning of agriculture led inexorably to the development of human civilization. This tradition and knowledge is the Kurdistan people obligation and joy to cherish, research and develop. In 2009 the Kurdish Ministry of Agriculture announced an ambitious plan to achieve agricultural self-sufficiency within five years in the production of grain, produce, oil, and agricultural inputs such as livestock feed. This plan as a concept is a necessity for national and economic security and aims to build healthy foundations of Agriculture development. However as often as individual people do, so are people Institutions, which unfortunately mix up priorities and jeopardize the final outcome, having although genuine motives to fast forward the Agriculture production and self sufficiency. In other words it is very easy to promote a fast and plentiful agriculture production using high yield seeds, fertilizers, chemical plant protection drugs, heavy machinery and a lot of water. As traditional farmers know best “the gifts of mother earth we are welcome to use but with gratitude, wisdom and caring”, especially when factors that hinder development exists like the low soil fertility due to high salinity of soil, antiquated and inefficient irrigation and drainage system, lack of supplementary irrigation for rain fed crops, week rural infrastructure and unavailability of necessary agricultural inputs. In these circumstances the aim of building a strong, sustainable and productive agriculture infrastructure is to use the best of what the region has and adapt the cultivation plans to the local region peculiarities. The Kurdistan region is by all means a blessed area regarding the climate, other countries such as Greece which has more or less the same climate conditions, have a long tradition and agriculture know how. This knowledge is valuable and can attribute greatly to the promotion of the appropriate cultivation model with primary aim the sufficiency of agriculture and livestock products and the sustainability of the Kurdistan region resources. As grateful are people having their freedom and living in a democratic society, so grateful they owe to be towards their earth and its ability to offer them the best of its products for their survival! PUKmedia |
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| ALAN | 23rd February 2013 - 09:23 PM Post #17 |
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KRG delegation visited Israel to establish a diary farm in KRG On Thursday, 21 February, 2013, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that a high-level Kurdish delegation had recently visited Israel to discuss possible cooperation between the two sides. The paper noted that the visit, which took place days earlier in complete secrecy, had not been officially announced. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the visiting delegation was representing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and comprised of KRG Vice President Kosrat Rasul, Minister of Agriculture Jamil Sleiman Haider, and a number of unnamed economic and agricultural experts. The aim of the visit was to enhance cooperation between Israel and the KRG, and explore the possibility of tapping into Israeli expertise in fields like agriculture, poultry farming, and the production of dairy products. As part of their tour, the Kurdish delegation visited the Afikim kibbutz in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank, where the delegation examined a model Israeli farm, in preparation for establishing a similar farm in the Kurdistan region with help from Israel. Yedioth Ahronoth also mentioned that the KRG vice president was invited to visit the headquarters of AfiMilk, the globally renowned Israeli agricultural company. The vice president expressed interest in purchasing high-tech agricultural equipment and collaborating with the company to build a model farm in South Kurdistan. AfiMilk, according to the newspaper, is a leading company in its field, and has set up farms in more than 50 countries, including three believed to be the world’s largest in the US, China, and Vietnam. The Israeli company has also overseen the establishment of a high-tech farm in Angola and established a center for camel milk production in Dubai. According to sources cited by the Israeli paper, the model farm to be established in the Kurdistan region is set to become the largest and most advanced of its kind. Both the Israeli and Kurdish sides have prepared the necessary plans to market the products of the Israeli farm through all the Kurdistan region. In this vein, Yedioth Ahronoth mentioned that an Israeli delegation of agricultural experts would soon travel to South Kurdistan to begin implementation. The newspaper quoted Kurdish sources in the visiting delegation as expressing their hopes that joint cooperation with Israel would contribute to growth in South Kurdistan. One member of the Kurdish delegation to Israel said, “It is hard to find locally-produced dairy products in the Kurdish market, although there are vast tracts of land available to build farms and high-tech facilities for poultry and livestock production. This has prompted the KRG to be on the lookout for special agricultural technology and expertise instead of relying on outdated traditional methods.” Yet the newspaper claimed that the official Israeli media narrative maintained that the status of the relationship between the KRG and the Jewish state remained the same, with no formal diplomatic and trade ties. Furthermore, the newspaper stated that the Israeli government currently does not encourage Israeli firms to invest in Iraq, a country it considers a geopolitical hotspot, particularly in light of the friction between South Kurdistan and Turkey, and the close ties between the KRG and Iran. This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition. |
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| Halo | 23rd February 2013 - 10:34 PM Post #18 |
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Têkoşer
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I hope this is true but because the source is arabic i'm not sure what to belive. They want kurds to look bad in the arab world and to do that they spread false propaganda. |
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| ALAN | 23rd February 2013 - 11:35 PM Post #19 |
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Kurdish news have confirmed it |
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| ALAN | 24th February 2013 - 12:22 AM Post #20 |
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Here read this http://www.kurdiu.org/hawal/index.php?pageid=120027 http://www.niha24.com/Direje.aspx?Jimare=14089 |
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| purearch72 | 25th February 2013 - 07:12 AM Post #21 |
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Banned by member request
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| ALAN | 18th March 2013 - 12:00 AM Post #22 |
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Rice Imports Feed Appetite for Kurdish Staple 2/12/2012 ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – South Kurdistan is emerging as a booming market for rice, with high-quality imports from India dominating trade and catering to the prodigious local appetite for a food that is eaten at least once a day by many Kurds. Rice was the centerpiece at last month’s Agro-Food fair in Erbil, where more than 40 of the 350 firms from 26 countries at the four-day event featured only rice. The owner of an Indian company said his firm was marketing rice alone because, “We knew how much Kurds love rice. The Kurds’ taste for rice has created a good business opportunity for us,” he said, adding that his company was looking to open a new branch in the Kurdistan region. Rice is a staple food in Kurdistan, eaten in most households at least once a day, with the highest quality and most expensive variety coming from India. Fatih Yasin, owner of the Momtaz Food Company, told Rudaw that more than 20 thousand tons of rice is consumed monthly in Kurdistan, imported mostly from India, Thailand, Vietnam, Italy, Australia and the United States. He said that nearly 90 percent of the Iraqi Kurdish population consumes Indian rice daily, and that he believed no other people in the world like rice as much as Iraqi Kurds. “I like rice. I cannot live without it,” Akram Sulaiman, a 37-year-old visitor to the food fair, told Rudaw. “It is my favorite food,” he added, voicing what could be a common sentiment among the vast majority of Kurds. “Sometimes I eat rice three times a day,” he said. Despite a general preference among the population for Kurdish rice -- which is more affordable -- many rice farmers have long abandoned their fields to work in the cities or as government employees. “There isn’t enough local rice in the market because Kurdish farmers have abandoned their farms and become government employees,” said Lazgin Ahmad, professor of agriculture at Duhok University. “Rice production is tiring work and no one is willing to do it anymore,” he said. Ahmad believes that if properly cultivated Iraqi Kurdistan’s fertile soil, which stretches from Duhok province near the Turkish border to the Garmiyan region, can produce enough rice to feed local demand. Iraqi Baziyan rice, a prized local variety, is now only grown by three farmers, according to the Iraqi Seed Project, an international media project by independent filmmakers and educators that examines the effects of war, sanctions and environmental neglect on local farmers in a region where agriculture is first believed to have begun. The area around Sulaimani, once a well-known region for a rich rice-growing tradition, now suffers from poor water supplies that have devastated local farming, according to the project. |
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| ALAN | 18th March 2013 - 12:03 AM Post #23 |
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Hawraman Pomegranates: Love at First Bite SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – When Kurdish businessman Faraydoon Salih loaded up a few tons of Hawraman pomegranates and set off for Dubai, he was betting on the quality of a fruit he knew had few rivals. The sweet, juicy and wine-red pomegranates put entries from other countries at a Dubai fair to shame. “Hawraman pomegranates ranked the tastiest and highest quality among pomegranates from 93 other countries,” Salih proudly says. “Among pomegranate from all other countries our pomegranates, Indian pomegranate and to some extend Iranian pomegranates, were in demand by buyers from other countries,” he says. “Hawraman pomegranate, like Indian pomegranate, is one of the highest in quality and sales in world markets,” Salih told Rudaw. In order to cash in on the wonder fruit, at the beginning of this year Salih and another Kurdish businessman established the Mexak Company, whose goal is to introduce agricultural products from Hawraman to the outside world. Now, Mexak has 200 tons of pomegranates ready for export. But while the demand is in place, the logistics of getting the fruit to eager consumers are not. “Unfortunately, we cannot export the produce directly from Kurdistan, because we don’t have cargo planes at Kurdistan airports. “The produce must be transported via Amman and Beirut, and this adds to the cost,” he added. “This difficulty in transporting the goods has been a hurdle,” he said. Pomegranates from Hawraman and Sharazoor can meet demand from the entire Sulaimani province. The two regions are famed for their pomegranate, and for other fruits like grapes and apples. In 2010, Mexak introduced Hawraman pomegranates at an agricultural fair in Britain, where the fruit again came out top among entries from dozens of other countries. “Now, Hawraman pomegranates are well known in Britain, Dubai and other international markets,” Salih says. “There is also demand as far away as the United States. American companies are willing to pay $8,000 dollars for each ton of our pomegranate,” Salih says, but adds that due to high transportation costs his company was “unable to reach an agreement with American companies.” |
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| ALAN | 18th March 2013 - 12:29 AM Post #24 |
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Wasted food is a major problem in Kurdistan region The Kurdish globe Statistics show Kurdistan Region's trashes contain at least 70% of wasted food UNESCO report shows that 70% of trashes in Kurdistan region contain wasted food that is edible. There is a growing public demand for recyclable bins, and many blame the government for not providing sufficient services to tackle wasted food. The blame should not rest with the government alone, since they can only provide avenues that help generate a culture that shows concern over the environment, and food. The problem is, people are wasting and throwing away edible food while on our borders there are refugees that can't afford decent food. For a population that is close to 3 million, the amount of food wasted in Kurdistan region is staggering. This food can be used to feed the world's growing population, as well as those who are too poor to afford nutritious food. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has no official statistical date on the amount of wasted food in the region. According to Dilshad Shahab, Municipality Minister, UNESCO prepared a statistical report showing that 70% of trashes in Kurdistan Region is wasted food. "We are really sad that our people waste this amount of food. It is a big sin," said Shahab. All Iraqi people including the Kurds receive food stamps from the government, and consequently receive food. In 1995, the Security Council adopted Resolution 986, establishing the "oil-for-food" program, providing Iraq with an opportunity to sell oil to trade for humanitarian goods, and various mandated UN activities concerning Iraq. The program was intended to be a temporary measure to provide for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people until the fulfillment by Iraq of the relevant Security Council resolutions. The situation in Iraq was slightly better from 1995 until the 2003 invasion when Iraq was liberated from Saddam Hussein's regime. Although all the sanctions were lifted in 2003, some Iraqis still lived in poverty, so the Ministry of Trade modified the program. People in Kurdish provinces could buy subsidized food, but many said the food was low quality. Many people complain about the quality of food; they sometimes sell them or throw them away. "People are becoming prodigal nowadays. I am sure that God is mad at us for wasting a lot of food. If you look at the garbage cans in front of any houses, you will see they are full of unused food. That is really bad," said Haji Tofeeq Rahman, a 61-year old man. Rahman thinks that the youngsters, who haven't lived in the predicaments of the 1990s, are very vain and imprudent. In the 1990s, the situation of Kurds within Kurdistan region was very dire. Many lacked access to food and water. Some people used barley instead of wheat to make flour, which was used to make bread. Economists believe the loss to Kurdistan is dual. One problem is that food is thrown away, and no one benefits from it because they're not recycled. Another is causes harm to the environment because garbage is burnt in Kurdistan, usually in places that are desolated. Sirwan Shaho, holds a MSc degree in Economy explained that people need to have a program to organize their eating schedule to ensure that food is not wasted. "People in Europe cook the amount of food they eat, but people here cook approximately two times more than what they eat. What happens to the remains? Off course they are thrown away," explained Shaho. In order to prevent further waste, Shaho believes that the government, development agencies, economic and social organizations, and religious scholars must work together to help change people's mindsets on waste and discourage wasteful practices by farmers, food producers, supermarkets and consumers. Shaho also said that the government needs to think of finding a mechanism as to how to make use of trashes. "The government can get many benefits from wasted materials. In some countries, electricity power is produced from trashes after they are burnt. The government needs to bring professional people to the region to estimate how trashes can be benefited," Clarified Shaho. |
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| Worldwar2boy | 1st April 2013 - 12:31 PM Post #25 |
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Kurdistan, Yan Naman.
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Some dumb people think Kurdistan will only survive on the oil. That's bullshit we are not camel i-rackies. Look at all the other natural resources we have. We also have our beautiful nature with a high potential for tourism, including our culture, history and historical cites. I don't think there is another country in the Middle-East with the potential we have. And we are one of the few countries in the ME were agriculture is possible. We have the best fruits and vegetables, fish. We have smart people, people are inventing stuff. We are strong, proud and united and will achieve more then desert Dubai within the next 10 years. People will forget about Dubai and Kurdistan will be the next top country in the world. |
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