The facility, the first of its kind in Iraq, will work with 8,000 local farmers, create 160 sustainable jobs at the plant and provide 10,000 job opportunities for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) with access to seasonal work on potato farms. The foundation stone of a potato processing facility was laid on Thursday by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in Duhok province as part of an initiative to create sustainable jobs and support domestic production of goods.
The project will provide significant support for domestic consumption of potato-based foods, reducing reliance on foreign imports and strengthening the Kurdistan Region’s industrial and agricultural sectors, Barzani said at the gathering.
The project is worth EUR5.8m and will be funded by the Dutch Foreign Ministry and a local Kurdish company, Kurdistan-Holand Co, with each contributing equally.
