ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A local produce festival in the Kurdistan Region’s Akre entered its second day on Friday, with farmers showcasing their products as part of efforts to promote homegrown food and support local markets.

“The festival will run for three days [the 17th, 18th, and 19th] of this month, with around 100 tents set up at Akre’s modern customs market. In addition to marketing the produce,” Ahmed Jamil, the director of Duhok’s agriculture department, told The New Region.

“The objective of the festival is to attract the private sector to industrialize agricultural products,” he added.

Akre has served as a hub for agricultural products in the Kurdistan Region due to its fertile soil. The town produced over 13,000 tons of agricultural produce in 2025 and the first eight months of 2026, including figs, tomatoes, cucumbers, rice, sumac, and dried goods.

Over 5,800 tons of produce were exported in 2025, and more than 7,200 tons have been exported so far this year, marking a sharp increase in the city's export capacity.

The festival comes as the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) ninth cabinet has intensified efforts to utilize its arable lands as a source of revenue, exporting tens of thousands of tons of products such as potatoes, pomegranates, apples, and grapes to several countries across the Middle East and Europe as well as the US.