ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Farmers poured their tomato harvest onto the streets of Erbil Monday in protest of the value of their product drastically plummeting amid economic strife. They say they would prefer to throw away their produce than sell it for its current value, which registers at less than 100 dinars [$0.084] per kilo. “I brought one dunam [2,500 square meters] worth of product here. The cost of the production was 5,000,000 dinars. And I sold it only for 100,000 dinars. Who is supporting me?,” one protesting farmer told Rudaw Monday. “Look, I do not want fertilizer from the government. I do not want support from the government. All I want is for the government to allow buyers [from other parts of Iraq] come in. Let us sell our products,” he added. Nearly 80,000 tons of tomatoes have been produced in the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of 2020, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) agriculture ministry. Coronavirus containment measures have created a shortage in demand that has left an excessive amount of produce unsold, say the protestors. This has prompted farmers to call on the KRG to help find markets for their products “At least, establish a tomato paste factory. Or, open the roads and let Arabs come in to buy from us,” said another protestor. The KRG Agriculture and Water Resources Ministry has told Rudaw’s Farhad Dolamari that they plans to open tomato paste factories and find buyers for Kurdish tomatoes outside of the Region next year. Hussein Hama Karim, ministry spokesperson, says a large company is considering Kurdish tomatoes for its production of paste. “At this stage, they are carrying out research on the Kurdish tomato seed, hoping that it has the quality that includes a good amount of water so they can use it for tomato paste. We should focus more on outside markets including Gulf and European countries,” said Karim. Reporting by Farhad Dolamari
