Iraqi farm profits jump 48% with direct supermarket sales

When a consignment of 1.5 tonnes of potatoes arrived at Carrefour's store in Dohuk, they sold out within 24 hours. Customers came back asking for more. Three additional tonnes were ordered and delivered. They sold out just as fast.

The sale was the first commercial transaction through the Faida Aggregation Hub, a facility where refugee, displaced and host community farmers pool their produce to reach buyers they could not access alone.

More than a standalone facility, the hub is part of a systemic market-linkages approach that connects smallholders to formal retail value chains, strengthens quality standards, and builds lasting buyer–supplier relationships.

Dohuk, in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, has hosted hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people who fled violence elsewhere in the country and refugees from neighbouring Syria, many for over a decade. Finding steady work and income is among their biggest challenges.

For these farmers, the hub is a financial boon: compared with selling through traditional wholesale channels, farmers are earning up to 48% more per kilogram.

Washed, graded and ready for retail

The difference starts before produce leaves the farm. At the hub, potatoes are sorted, graded, washed, professionally packaged and held in short-term cold storage – all to standards agreed with buyers in advance. Post-harvest losses have fallen, and the consistency retailers demand is now something these farmers can deliver.

‘This level of potato quality is rarely found in the market, washed and professionally packed. The three tonnes delivered last week sold out within 24 hours, and customers are already requesting the same product with the same quality standards,’ said the Carrefour Dohuk team (Can we name the speaker?).

Farmers also receive training in post-harvest handling and basic business skills, and get access to real-time market pricing. Such information was previously out of reach for many smallholders.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) built the hub in 2025 with support from the United States of America. It opened in 7 October 2025 to bring together refugee, displaced and host community farmers.

The initiative reflects the International Trade Centre’s inclusive trade model, which combines infrastructure, capacity-building and private-sector partnerships to integrate vulnerable producers into sustainable, higher-value markets.

This work forms part of the JOBS project (Jobs and Entrepreneurship Opportunities to Build Sustainable Inclusive Development) implemented by the International Trade Centre with the financial support of the European Union, in collaboration with the Dohuk Directorate of Agriculture and the Norwegian Refugee Council.