ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is set to export 100 tons of local potatoes to The United Arab Emirates on Saturday as part of a deal to export 5,000 tons to the country in phases.

“Tomorrow, Saturday, at 11 AM, under the supervision of the Erbil Agriculture Directorate, 100 tons of locally-grown potatoes from Kurdistan Region farmers will be sent to the United Arab Emirates from Erbil as the first phase,” Heman Said Murad, head of Erbil Agriculture, told The New Region on Friday

One of the key objectives of the KRG’s ninth cabinet under Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has been to diversify the Region’s economy by exporting local goods abroad. During the cabinet’s tenure, an estimated 8,000 tonnes of potatoes have been exported to Saudi Arabia and UAE.

“The United Arab Emirates has agreed to import five thousand tons of potatoes from the Kurdistan Region in several phases,” the official revealed.

The Kurdistan Region’s arable lands on average produces 600,000 tons of potatoes annually which is four times the domestic need, according to information obtained by The New Region. A total of 86,453 dunams of land were planted with potatoes across the Region in 2023, yielding 800,000 tonnes, Hiwa Ali, spokesperson of the KRG’s agriculture ministry said in October.

In 2022, 20,000 tons were exported to Qatar and the UAE. A year later, 16,000 tons were sent to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman while in 2024 eight thousand tons of potatoes were sent to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Liberia in southern Africa.

The Kurdistan Region began exporting potatoes to the western African country of Liberia in October, marking the first export of its kind to the continent. As part of the agreement, 25 tons of potatoes were exported in the first phase of a 100 ton deal.

In addition to potatoes, the KRG, under its ninth cabinet, has exported agricultural products such as pomegranates, apples, and grapes to several other countries across Europe as well as the US.