SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – The biggest plant nursery in the Kurdistan Region was opened in Sulaimani on Friday with an event attended by the governor and Ministry of Agriculture officials.
“We have been working on this project for a year and a half. We have built nearly 100 greenhouses for plant cuttings and so on. One million cuttings have been prepared. Nearly six million flowers are ready,” Kurdo Aziz, manager of the project, told Rudaw.
“Nearly 300 people work here. The number will increase when the project expands as we aim to expand it much more. We are creating something so that nobody considers bringing in flowers and saplings from outside.”
The nursery is built on 137.5 hectares and about 50 hectares of projects have been completed. It is located on the Sulaimani-Tasluja road, west of the city, and will grow both flowers and vegetables.
There is also a fertilizer factory within the project, something Kurdo contends they have been successful with.
He believes their nursery will eventually be able to meet domestic demands for all of Iraq and he hopes they will also be able to export their products.
They are able to offer competitive prices with products that are cheaper than imports from the Netherlands, Turkey, and Baghdad, the manager added.
Darko Aziz, the project’s marketing manager, is confident about the business model.
“We offer single sales for households – a garden for customers to buy from us. We also offer wholesale for nurseries and gardens. Our prices are designed in a way to compete with imports. We want to compete with them,” he said.
“The bulk of flowers and saplings in the Kurdistan Region’s markets are imports from outside countries. With the opening of this nursery, given the plan they are talking about, Sulaimani will become the provider of flowers to other cities in Kurdistan and Iraq.”
Flower seller Zhiyar Mohammed is excited about the project and sees potential benefits for his own business.
“If they are able to implement such a project and provide various colors of flowers, it is much better for us. There are many kinds and colors of flowers. We have 10 to 15 different colors. If they can provide all the colors it is very good for us. We would not go outside to import them,” he told Rudaw.
The nursery is currently experimenting with producing organic broccoli and other vegetables, in preparation for producing them for the market.
“For our future plans, we want to produce fruits, vegetables, cucumbers, and tomatoes organically without the use of fertilizers or other chemical products here for serving the people,” said Kurdo.
