Farmers protest lack of government support to secure markets

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Farmers in eastern Sulaimani province on Thursday protested cheap, illegal imports that are leaving them unable to sell their produce and accused the government of failing to secure a market for them.

“Our products don’t make profits,” Hasan Karim Hasan, a farmers’ representative in the Penjwen district, told reporters at the protest. He said tomatoes are being “illegally” brought into the Kurdistan Region from neighbouring countries and southern Iraq.

Produce from southern Iraqi provinces can be imported into the Region without restriction, while Kurdish traders say they must pay to pass through checkpoints in order to send their fruit and vegetables in Iraqi provinces.

“We, as Penjwen farmers, are exhausted this year. We’re worried. Our products don’t make profits. We have so many issues and the government doesn’t do anything,” said Hasan.

He would like to see the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) make a deal with farmers in southern Iraq that would allow them to sell in each other’s markets if they’re not making money at home.

Hasan said that Penjwen’s tomatoes alone are enough to meet market needs across Iraq and said farmers are not asking for high prices: “500 to 600 dinars is enough for us, as long as they control the borders.”

In May, Kurdish produce traders complained that they were having problems selling locally grown fruit and vegetables to the rest of Iraq due to problems with export permits. Iraq’s integrity commission had accused Kurdistan Region’s border crossings of not abiding by government import bans on select items meant to protect farmers, resulting in foreign-grown fruit and vegetables showing up in local markets. As a result, Kurdish produce was being stopped at Iraqi checkpoints.

In June, Iraq and the KRG’s agriculture ministry agreed to establish a joint company to market local agricultural products on the condition Kurdistan Region commits to border control.

The problem of finding markets for Kurdish fruit and vegetables is an annual problem. Last year, farmers trampled their own tomatoes in protest over low prices, and potato farmers dumped their products, protesting the presence of banned imports that pushed their produce out of the market.

Hasan complained that they “have to come to the streets every year” and said they will vent their rage at the ballot box in October Iraqi parliamentary elections if nothing is done.

“We are completely hopeless this year… If the government is waiting for the people to vote for them to go back to the Iraqi parliament, I am sure the people who are in the streets this year, none of them will vote in the elections.”

A farmer at the protest questioned the government’s efforts to develop the agriculture sector as it diversifies the economy. “Tomatoes are being imported from the border crossings without taking Penjwen into account. You are claiming to advance the agricultural sector, but you are damaging it,” said Soran Karim.

“Ministry of Agriculture, my first message is to you: come out of your office and send only three representatives, see what’s going on in Penjwen,” said Karim.

Rudaw English reached out to the agriculture ministry, but they were not immediately available for comment.

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