‘Top grade’: Sharezur plant converts local tomato harvest into paste

HALABJA — The Sharezur Tomato Processing Plant in Halabja has begun receiving fresh produce from area farmers to convert into tomato paste, with plant officials describing local tomatoes as “top grade” for processing.

“The tomatoes from Sharezur have no problems and are ideal for paste,” one farmer told 964media.

The facility can receive up to 110 tons of tomatoes from farmers in a single day and has the capacity to produce 80 boxes of 800-gram tomato paste per hour.

Kameran Mohammed, the plant’s manager, told 964media that this year’s supply comes from farmers in Halabja, Sulaymaniyah, and Erbil governorates. “But due to high transport costs, we couldn’t purchase tomatoes from Duhok farmers this year,” he said.

“We have a marketing problem,” he added. “Although we’ve asked the Iraqi government to include our tomato paste in the monthly [national] food ration program, that request hasn’t been approved yet.”

Aras Nawzad, a farmer from Said Sadiq who delivered his tomatoes to the plant, told 964media, “Our tomatoes are top grade for paste, but the issue is that they buy them from us at very low prices. We can’t even recover the money we spent on production.”

As for support given to the plant, Satar Mahmoud, general director of agriculture in Halabja, told 964media the Ministry of Agriculture has made it easier for farmers by restricting imports during the local harvest season.

“In past years, even the transport costs for the produce were reimbursed to farmers, as a form of encouragement and support for both farmers and the plant,” he said.

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