Potato News from Iraq

Under the umbrella of the Strengthening the Agriculture and Agri-food Value Chain and Improving Trade Policy in Iraq (SAAVI ) and Under the auspices of the Commission of the European Union and in the presence of Ms. Barbara Egger, Chairperson of the Cooperation Committee of the European Commission in Iraq

The Director of the International Trade Center (ITC), Mr. Eric Bochot, Representatives of the International Trade Center, accompanied by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAIM) and NRC visits the Beirut-Erbil company for signing a memorandum of joint cooperation for improving agricultural and trade status in Iraq.

Michel Rentenaar, the Dutch Ambassador to Iraq, along with Hans Akerboom, the Dutch consul in the Kurdistan Region visited Beirut Erbil for Potato Products company (B.E.P.P CO), the Iraq-based potato chips manufacturer and exporter.

BEPPCO, the Iraq-based potato chips manufacturer and exporter, is always striving to produce the best quality of products. This is achieved with the help of proper assessment of potato quality at the early stages of production

B.E.P.P CO is a potato chip manufacturer from Iraq that offers natural potato chip products under the following brands: Mr.Krisper and Mito. To optimize potato quality, B.E.P.P CO opened this season a new state-of-the-art potato storage facility that can provide optimal conditions for potatoes for processing at all times.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Thursday laid the foundation stone of a potato production factory in Duhok, set to provide 500 jobs and make use of local potato products.

The potato harvest in Iraq has started. Staff of the Beirut Erbil Potato Processing Company (B.E.P.P. Co) - known in Iraq for their potato chips brands Mito and Mr, Krisper, but active throughout the entire potato supply chain - are working hard in various regions of Iraq from Karbala to Diyala to Al-Rabiah, Dohuk, Erbil, and beyond.

Farmers dumped their potatoes in front of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s agriculture ministry in Erbil on Thursday, protesting banned imports that have pushed their produce out of the market.

The Kurdish Ministry of Agriculture predicts that farmers will plant more than 15,000 tons of seed potatoes in mid-February, increasing the amount of potatoes produced in the region.

Potato production in Kurdistan has seen a 13-fold increase over the last 7 years and is well above domestic demand, allowing export of the surplus. Nevertheless, potatoes have to be imported later in the season, since local potato storage capacity is lacking.

Bernard Quere, the Middle East envoy for the French agricultural agency France Obtention- whose slogan is L'Univers de la pomme de terre - had flown from Paris in November to sell seedlings cultivated by French farmers to Kurdish agriculturalists. By ...

Iraq's Ministry of Agriculture banned the import of potato seeds and called to rely on local products after they are subject to examinations by an an ad hoc ministerial committee, according to a Ministry release on Sunday. "The decision was taken...