In addition to the natural resources, the East part of Kurdistan is also very productive with agricultural products. The reason for this is that Kurdistan is located on the Zagros Mountain ranges and its land and water are surrounded by these mountains which are very fertile for agriculture. Geographically, agricultural lands are mostly Chernozium soil and silt, and a large part of Kurdistan is covered in clay soil which makes this region very fertile.
Urmia Province is rich in Chernozium and silt soil and a part of this region's lands is covered in a kind of soil called peat moss. Peat moss soil can be found in the northern part of Iran and in Kurdistan which is used in the greenhouses.
According to the statistics, Urmia Province has 800 thousand hectares of agricultural land and every year more than six million tons of agricultural products are harvested here. After apples, the second most cultivated product of the gardens of this region is grapes. More than 60 thousand people are working in the fields of this province.
Every year in Fall they begin to harvest apples which is such a good opportunity for workers to occupy that a lot of people from other parts of Iran come to the area to work in these gardens. However, there is no proper planning and organization for these workers to find a job.
In Urmia Province's cities due to the fertile soil, there is in the area, and after agricultural developments that happened in this province, most of the farmers began to develop their gardens. The number one product of these gardens is apple.
More than one million and five hundred tons of apple is harvested in this province annually which is exported to other parts of Iran and other countries. However, it is necessary to mention this sad point that this province's gardeners' efforts will receive the least number of benefits due to the careless response of Tehran's officials.
These gardeners face the threat of a lack of markets and customers every year on the verge of harvesting their products. Due to the lack of market a large portion of the apple product, the part that is fallen due to wind blows, is sold to the juice and concentrate factories which is better than nothing for the gardeners.
Urmia Province is in the first place of producing apples in Iran. The apples harvested in this region are among the best kinds of them but there has not been a proper market for selling them and the officials spread false propaganda that the apple will not be sold.
More than half of Urmia apple products can be exported but due to a lack of plans for such actions and civil problems, the apple product cannot even reach the border markets. Besides this, the gardeners do not cooperate with one another although 80 thousand gardeners are working in Urmia in the East part of Kurdistan.
In 2017 more than 30% of apple products in Urmia Province rotted and more than 80 thousand people lost their jobs due to the lack of market for selling this product; improper packaging, lack of international markets, ignoring the methods of cultivation and harvesting, and lack of proper ways of transporting the products by the Iranian officials and also a lack of planning long term agendas for harvesting apple in Urmia Province have caused the gardeners face with many difficulties.
The gardeners put a lot of effort into their apple gardens. The fertilizer price in the current economic state of Iran puts a lot of financial pressure on the gardeners who have to face the lack of market after they harvest their products which makes them sell their products at very low prices.
East part of Kurdistan gardeners, in addition to problems such as lack of enough aid and attention from the related officials and authorities of Iran at the time of harvest, also face a lack of market. The carelessness of the authorities of this province has forced the gardeners to sell their best quality apples to concentrate factories instead of packaging them properly and selling them in the market.
The gardeners of this province complain that no one is paying any attention to their needs and every year the officials promise to help them sell their product but it never comes true.
Economic experts say that these apple gardens in Urmia Province can make the financial condition of the people of this province much better; however, the lack of planning for finding a market for this product has damaged the gardeners greatly.
Right now, thousands of tons of Urmia Province apple products are left carelessly without providing a proper market for selling them and there is no official to take responsibility for it. The farmers from Kurdistan are not supported financially and they even have to protest because they do not receive the money they were promised to get.
