Statistics from Sulaymaniyah’s department of agriculture seem to indicate that Bakr is correct. According to these, the amount of vegetables and fruits that arrived in Sulaymaniyah stores in 2008 totalled around 76 tons. Around 41 per cent of that came from Sulaymaniyah while 59 per cent came from outside the area. In 2009, the total amount dropped to 59 tons, with 33 per cent produced locally.
Shamal Othman Abdoul, head of the planning department of the Sulaymaniyah agriculture directorate, had several theories on the decline in local fruit and vegetable production. “One of the main reasons is climate change,” he said. “This has had an impact on all countries of the world. Climate change has had a negative impact on agricultural production in Kurdistan too,” he said.
Abdoul also argued that new city planning had designated some of the land that was formerly agricultural as residential. “This made many farmers leave their work,” Abdoul said. “And the polluted water was just another challenge for the farmers in these areas.”
Still, as Abdoul pointed out, the local government has plans to try and encourage more agricultural production in the area. The authorities also plan to give out grants to farmers, which for larger projects may be as big as IQD100 million (around US$85,000). “Our aim is for the region to become self sufficient so that we can produce all of our vegetable and other agricultural needs,” Abdoul explained
So far, these plans do seem to be working: government statistics indicate that the total vegetables in Sulaymaniyah in 2010 amounted to 62 tons – and of this local contributions made up 47 per cent, a rise from 2009.
(Source: NIQASH)
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