ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The supervisor of a private carrot plantation project says that they have examined Kurdistan’s soil and have discovered that the region’s climate and soil are very suitable to grow carrots in the spring and autumn, which could save the region millions of dollars it spends every year on imports.
According to figures produced by Kurdistan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, over the past five years, 86,881 tons of carrot have been consumed, of which only 10-percent were local products. These figures show that demand on carrot is increasing in the Kurdistan Region.
Carrot consumption in Kurdistan increased by 65-percent from 2011 to 2015. Local growth of carrots also has been increasing, although the region still imports more than it produces annually.
“After two years of examination of three types of carrot seeds from the Netherlands, Germany and the United States, we found out that the Dutch seeds were very suitable to the Kurdistan Region’s climate. Hence, as an experiment, we planted carrot seeds for 50 farmers on 612,500 square-meters of land in 45 different places in Erbil, Duhok, Sulaimani and Kirkuk,” Haval Kamal Agha, the supervisor of the carrot growth project at ARD Company said.
ARD is a private sector company in Kurdistan which deals with agricultural needs in the region. It has been successful in determining suitable seed cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, aubergines, melons and watermelons to Kurdish farmers in the region. This year, it tested seed carrots on Kurdish soil for the first time.
“Farmers who followed our plantation and irrigation instructions harvested 8 to 12 tons of carrots in 2,500 square-meters, while those who didn’t, couldn’t even make up for the amount they spent on growing them,” Agha added.
In the past, local farmers thought that carrots were a winter season product which could be grown only in the winter.
“Carrots can be planted in autumn and spring, but autumn is a better season for this product,” Agha explained.
“[Carrots] should be grown in mid-September and should be irrigated for five hours on the first day of the plantation, three hours the following day, and two hours on the third day. They should then be watered for an hour every 12 days until they sprout. They would then need less irrigation, especially during the cold weather.”
Seed carrots take about 25 days until they sprout, and need 90 days until they fully grow, Agha said.
In an attempt to promote its products, the company gives farmers instructions on plantation and irrigation, even dispatches its engineers to supervise fields until the harvest season arrives, and opens exhibitions to display the variety of its seeds.
“Planting carrot seeds is very easy and its harvest is very good. Carrots make more money than radishes. Hence, I have decided to grow carrots more than radishes next fall,” said Ghedan Rashid Qadir, a farmer from the village of Garmik near the town of Shexan.
Kurdistan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources has been systematically promoting the agricultural sector in the region. However, they have not had any plans to develop carrots in spite of being on high demand in the market with thousands of tons imported to the region from abroad.
Figures obtained by the Kurdish Ministry of Trade and Industry show that Kurdistan has spent $38,117,000 on importing carrots and other related products from Turkey and Iran over the past there years.
“In the past few years, we had little budget. Hence, we only cared about growing more essential vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes. It is because of this that we didn’t have any plans to increase carrot plantation,” said Kamal Mohammed, manager of glasshouse and green leafs plantation project with Kurdistan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resource.
“In the future, we will try to develop carrot growth through the private sector as carrots are on high demand and Kurdistan’s environment is suitable to plant this vegetable,” he added.
The ARD Company is making preparations to plant large amounts of carrot seeds on 325,000 square-meters this spring.
“We have prepared plans to increase carrot harvest to 15 tons in a field of 2,500 square-meters, providing that farmers follow our instructions. Our studies indicate that the spring harvest has more product than the autumn one,” Agha said. “Growing carrots costs less than planting potatoes. The plantation of carrots costs little, yet their yield is good.”
