Agriculture
Kurdistan’s wealth of high-grade pasturelands has long made it suitable for a pastoralist economy, but it is equally suitable in many areas for intensive agriculture. The pasturelands have remained in reasonably good condition and continue to be a productive source of animal feed. The rich pastures have always ensured that in all historical periods, regardless of how dominant the agricultural sector, there have been nomadic herdsmen exploiting this economic niche to its fullest.
Large and fertile mountain valleys provide ample space for agriculture. Despite its mountainous nature, Kurdistan has more arable land proportionately (28% of its total surface area) than the majority of Middle Eastern countries. Expansive river valleys create a lattice work of fertile fields in Kurdistan, except in the region of the central massif. This may very well explain the fact that many experts feel that agriculture was invented in Kurdistan, as was the domestication of almost all basic cereals and livestock, with the notable exceptions of cows and rice. Since then, the economy has always had an agricultural base, albeit with varying degrees of importance.
A great variety of cereals and vegetables have traditionally been grown in Kurdistan, with wheat and barley the most common. Rice has more recently been given growing preference, and it is displacing bread as the basic food of choice of the Kurdish middle class. Cash crops like tobacco, sugar beets, and cotton are playing a growing role in the local economy. The tobacco is of good quality, with pipe tobacco (also the tobacco of choice for water pipes) of the region being in great demand throughout the Middle East.
Wild berries, particularly black and white mulberries, are found in almost every village, with production for market increasing each year. Mulberries, and to a lesser extent barberries, are currently the berries of choice. Dried, they are used throughout the year. The fruits, including grapes, are grown in large tracts of land. Some quantity is also collected from wild stands. They play an important role in the Kurdish diet, particularly in their dried forms.
