The history of the city of Halabja is rich in events both happy and tragic. The city has sacrificed much, but these sacrifices have led to freedom and prosperity. One event serves as a celebration of this past alongside the future: the annual pomegranate festival.
Held in the first week of November in Halabja Park and Games’ City, the Tenth Pomegranate Festival was a bustling success, with reports of more than 80,000 tourists visiting Halabja Governorate on the first day of the festival. According to the General Directorate of Tourism of Halabja, about 300,000 tourists and visitors in total attended the festival over the course of three days, spending some 1.5 billion Iraqi dinars.
Meanwhile, over 700 farmers, gardeners, vendors, and craftswomen – in addition to about 150 shops – participated, selling handicrafts as well as produce. Additionally, more than 200 venders offered Kurdish delicacies, including pomegranate products, nuts, honey, and dried fruit.
Agricultural activities in the Kurdistan Region have increased during tenure of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ninth Cabinet, and Halabja’s annual pomegranate festival is one prominent example of this. The festival is in collaboration with the General Directorate of Agriculture of Halabja within the framework of the KRG.
Fruitful Halabja
The Kurdistan Region boasts fertile soil and a favorable climate for agriculture and is one of the oldest agricultural regions in the world. The village of Charmo near Chamchamal stands out as the oldest recorded site with evidence of wheat cultivation, dating back approximately 7,000 years.
The different climatic characteristics from one area to another has fostered the cultivation of a variety of crops, vegetables, and agricultural products in the region, and each area is known for its specialty.
Halabja is known for its plentiful varieties of fruit, especially pomegranates. Due to the large number of agricultural products grown in the area, Halabja has become an agricultural hotspot.
The festival, of course, would not happen without the hard work of farmers and gardeners. One of the leading farmers in the region is Hamid Ismail, owner of Kurdistan Farm. He produces pomegranates and a number of other crops.
“This year’s pomegranate crop was juicy and special,” Ismail explained.
He also emphasized the importance of this festival for the marketing of local products. “This festival is a wonderful opportunity for us to sell their products to new customers and help them reach other cities in Kurdistan and Iraq,” he said.
Chia Qasim, Director General of Tourism of Halabja, noted that the farmers’ marketing techniques have changed over the years. Typically, the farmers transport their products to warehouses, from which they are then distributed to other governorates. However, farmers have begun selling their products to the tourists visiting Halabja in a kind of agro-tourism exchange.
Qasim explained that Halabja has created an advisory board of experts and advisors working in the Council of Ministers to ensure that the governorate’s products reach consumers in Iraq and even worldwide. Halabja’s renowned domestic agricultural products, dairy products, handicrafts, and dried food crops are all in great demand, and attract tourists both locally and internationally.
The city’s annual pomegranate festival has certainly bolstered Halabja’s notoriety and reputation, making it a local and regional destination, with some visitors coming from abroad. The U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski, and Consul General in Erbil Steven Bitner, accompanied by the Governor of Halabja and several other political and diplomatic figures, visited the festival in November 2024, expressing their admiration for the quality and taste of the products of Kurdish farms.
This influx of visitors benefits the economy of the governorate during the festival, while the visitors benefit from the chance to sample a buffet of heavenly flavors.
The popularity of the festival has also led to new job opportunities for locals and revitalized the tourism sector in the governorate. The city’s residents take this festival seriously because whenever it is held, all the streets, shops, and markets of Halabja are packed with visitors and tourists.
Reaching new markets
This year, the area experienced increased agricultural production, and both Halabja residents and festival organizers want to expand the market for their products. To achieve this, they are positioning the festival as an eco-tourism event capable of powering an economic revival for the area as a whole.
The KRG has undoubtedly put great effort toward marketing Kurdish agricultural products to international markets in recent years. These include initiatives to support local bazaars and open up new international markets for Kurdish products. There have been other steps taken to market local products and improve their quality through collaboration with and support for local farmers and business.
Qasim hopes that the government will continue the path of the Ninth Cabinet and its vision of exporting Kurdistan’s fruit and other agricultural products. “I hope they will expand this area to include not only local products of Halabja, but also honey and potatoes, which may not require extensive work. These domestic products are produced in large quantities and there is a need for a market to sell them.”
Qasim also believes that this can deliver a positive message to the world through pomegranates, Duhok strawberries, mountain honey, Akre’s famous figs, and Taqtaq’s domestic agricultural products.
There is considerable demand abroad for Kurdistan’s products, as they are organic and are traditionally grown without the use of harmful substances. Such practices makes these domestic products stand out in terms of their nutritional benefit, taste, and color.
Farmers like Ismail appreciate the steps taken by the KRG to find markets for their products, especially the pomegranates. They vow that such support will encourage them to increase domestic production in the coming years.
Indeed, farmers from the other side of the border in Eastern Kurdistan (northwestern Iran) have also begun to exhibit their products in the festival.
The organizers of the festival also expect much more interest and participation in the future. Administrative officials are working toward improving and expanding the venue of the festival in the future, as well as building the necessary facilities for tourists.
The Halabja Pomegranate Festival has helped establish a modern tradition of economic transaction in the area. Halabja, once a victim of war and chemical weapons smelling like apples, has flourished with its focus on pomegranates, showcasing the city’s resilience and continuity in the face of challenges.
Peshraw Mahdi is a freelance journalist and photographer with substantial experience in the field, having worked for numerous media agencies over several years. He has won multiple awards in photojournalism.