McDonald's Restaurants in the Gulf Countries and Jordan Have Their Eyes on Kurdish Potatoes

McDonald's restaurant franchises in Jordan and the Gulf countries have asked Bawar Sabir Khoshnaw, an Erbil businessman, to supply them with potatoes because of the higher quality of those grown in the Kurdistan Region.

According to Khosnaw, representatives from various McDonald's restaurants in the Arabian Gulf (Bahrain, Jeddah, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Riyadh, UAE) and Jordan typically requested 500 to 1,000 tons of potatoes from the Kurdistan region each week.

Kurdish potatoes are expensive because of their superior quality compared to those grown in Egypt and Pakistan, according to media statements provided to Kurdistan24 by Khoshnaw.

With the help of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), eight containers totaling 300 tons of potatoes grown by farmers in the province of Erbil were sold to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

BNN recently wrote that the 9th Cabinet of the KRG has been focusing on food security, enhancing the agricultural sector, and marketing farmers’ products as part of its strategic agenda. Over the last four years, this method has resulted in an increase of 200,000 tons in potato production.

The Kurdistan Agriculture Export Initiative was started by the KRG in 2022. This was part of a larger reform program in the Kurdistan Region aimed at diversifying the economy and stimulating the agricultural sector.

McDonald's Corporation has never awarded an official franchise license for a public restaurant in Iraq. Despite repeated applications, the corporation allegedly declined requests owing to national security concerns and logistical restrictions.