With the arrival of the winter season comes a pause in the majority of agricultural activities.

Food City Projects produces 7,500 ton of lettuce weekly, 40,000 tons of strawberries, and 130,000 tons of tomatoes annually. It also provides 16,000 m2 of grass to the markets yearly.

Supervisor of Food City project, Halwest Nawzad, says “we can plant a variety of things such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, vegetables and fruit. In other countries, bananas and many fruit are grown in the fields but we only grow tomatoes, strawberries, and lettuce.”

Nawzad noted that they learn from expats and foreigners while also bringing chemicals and agricultural materials from abroad, facilitated by the government.

The Food City project is an example of the fields launched under the policy of developing the agricultural sector by the Ninth Cabinet and its products are sold locally. It has created dozens of job opportunities for citizens of the Kurdistan Region.

Ari Asaad, who is from Kirkuk but lives in Erbil and works in one of these fields says “we plant tomatoes here while the time of growing tomatoes outside this field has expired. We grow tomatoes here and then sell them in the market.”

“Thanks to this project I have my own job and monthly income,” Asaad says.

The Ninth Cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has a special vision for the agricultural sector as well as ensuring food security and domestic needs. It is also working to export products that exceed the domestic need and follow a policy of supporting farmers.