Farmers in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) staged a protest over cheap imports that forced them out of the market.
A group gathered in front of the offices of the governorate in the city of Sulaymaniyah on Sunday, and dumped large quantitites of cucumber on the street in protest.
The Ministry of Agriculture of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced after the farmers’ demonstration a decision to ban cross-border trade of cucumber and tomato.
KRG’s Minister of Agriculture Begard Talabani contacted Iraqi agriculture minister Mohammad Karim Khafaji to discuss the issue and decided to stop imports of cucumber and tomato, the ministry said in a statement later.
It also announced that the Iraqi government decided to allow Kurdish farmers’ produce to be sold in the southern parts of Iraq in order to support the farmers.