FOB WARRIOR, KIRKUK — Walking through a market in Kirkuk city, shoppers will notice something unusual while perusing the dairy section. Milk, cheese, yogurt and the various other dairy products all have a common feature:
virtually none of them were made in Iraq. That's because up to this point, local dairy farmers couldn't compete with the larger dairy producers in the surrounding nations which export their products into Iraq. "If you look at the market, all the dairy products we have are Turkish or Iranian," said Sheikh Talabani, a farmer. "We can do it ourselves; why shouldn't we?"
Soon, local dairy farmers will get some help from a new micro-dairy farm opening on Talabani's land near the city of Daquq, Kirkuk prov. A micro-dairy is a place where farmers near a local dairy cooperative can bring their milk to have it processed and prepared for sale at a local market.
Talabani said that since the invasion in 2003, it's been hard on small-time farmers because of a large increase in the cost of many essential farming supplies, such as equipment, fertilizer, pesticides and petrol. This opened the market for outside dairy producers to move their products into Iraq and sell them at a cheaper price than the local producers could afford to do. The local dairy business continued to spiral downward, until essentially no dairy products were being produced for sale on local markets.
With the introduction a micro-dairy farm in the area, Talabani said dairy farmers will again be able to produce a product that can compete in price with imported dairy products. Because of the closeness of this micro-dairy to the farmers who will use it, the cost of transportation will be minimal and the expense of pasteurizing and processing both cow and sheep's milk at the dairy farm will be very low.
In addition to this micro-dairy farm, 3 more will be placed in the prov. near the cities of Hawijah, Riyaad and Altun Kapri. "This will build an industry that currently doesn't exist here," said Lt. Col. Hugh McNeely, the dep. comm. officer of 2nd BCT, 1st Cav Div. "Many of the farmers already have the cows; they just need something to do with their milk."
"I feel very comfortable that this is one that can work," said McNeely to Talabani about the project. "I think this is going to be good for your assn and the whole prov."
