“In the Kurdistan Region, compared to Iraqi cities, the fodder industry has grown. Over the past four years, 12 fodder factories were established. The production rate in these factories has increased by nearly 59 percent,” said Ramazan Mohammed, director of animal resources at the KRG’s agriculture ministry.
Kurdish factories produce more than regional needs and export about a quarter of their product to Iraqi cities.
“The fodder produced by these factories is more than enough for local demand. That is why fodder importation is prohibited and we have allowed the factories to export some of their product to Iraqi cities. Our aim is to turn the Kurdistan Region into a center for the fodder industry across Iraq,” Mohammed explained.
There are 1389 poultry projects in the Kurdistan Region. They have the capacity to produce more than 19 million baby chickens each time they hatch.
A major client for the fodder industry is poultry farms. Chicks consume kilos of fodder as they grow, meaning the poultry industry consumes more than 269,000 tonnes of fodder, and that number is no including egg farms.
“Fodder factories have created job opportunities for hundreds of people and are a reason for not spending millions of dollars to import fodder for poultry projects. That is why we support these projects in every way and will not allow fodder importation as long as these factories are operational,” Mohammed said.
Out of the 26 fodder factories in the Kurdistan Region, 15 are in Erbil province.
Barash fodder factory is one of the oldest in Erbil. Production here is actually down recently, because of increased competition and Iraqi traders asking for customs fees.
Barzan Adnan, manager of Barash factory, said, “Our factory produces five kinds of fodder – three are used for projects raising chicken for meat, the other two are for fish.”
“Factories export the product to Iraqi cities less now because Iraqi checkpoints charge 62,000 dinars ($52) as customs fee for exporting any tonne of fodder. That is why nowadays nearly 75 percent of the product produced by the factories is sold locally and 25 percent is exported to Iraq cities,” he explained.
Nearly 90 percent of farms raising chicken for meat use local fodder. The rest produce their own.
Zana Anwar Ahmad has three poultry projects in Sulaimani.
“I use local fodder for my chicken. The quality of the fodder has no problems. But the price of local fodder is expensive compared to that of the fodder from Iran,” he said, explaining that the ministry does not permit imports in order to support local produce – a practice he supports.
“Fodder produced by local factories needs to be protected. The ministry of agriculture should set a limit for the price of fodder, preventing factory owners from increasing its price,” he said.
