Heavy rains at the end of spring and cold weather have facilitated the spread of a rare disease in the trees.
There are more than 600 vineyards in Rawanduz district. In addition to grapes, other crops have also suffered this year.
“Overall, grape production may have decreased by up to 90 percent compared to previous years,” Mahmood Garwayi, a farmer, told Rudaw’s Andam Jabbar about the shortage of grapes in his vineyard. “I have been living in this district for around 15 years, but there has never been such a low yield as this year,” he added.
Most of the grapes sold on the market in the Kurdistan Region are imported from Turkey and southern Iraqi cities.
“This year, during the ripening of the grapes, there was sudden cold and rain, which affected the grape yield, and also, when there was a lot of rain, the temperature also rose and humidity formed, which led to the spread of diseases,” Hakim Abdullah, director of agriculture in Soran, told Rudaw’s Andam Jabbar on Tuesday.
According to the agricultural statistics of Soran, 1800 dunams of land have been turned into grape fields in Soran administration and in recent years, farmers in the region have put about 3,000 to 4,000 tons of grapes in the markets of the Kurdistan Region.
