The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture announced measures on Tuesday aimed at controlling rising table egg prices through increased domestic production and market oversight.
The ministry highlighted that demand for table eggs in local markets continues to exceed domestic supply, citing production declines due to rising feed and input costs.
Officials outlined a multi-pronged approach including local production incentives, official price implementation, and plans to boost domestic feed crop cultivation.
Demand outpaces domestic egg production
According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture Mahdi Suhr al-Jubouri, the supply-demand imbalance stems from declining production at specialized facilities.
Contributing factors include:
Rising production costs, particularly feed prices
Declining agricultural input availability
Limited growth in domestic poultry operations
The ministry’s statement acknowledged efforts to import table eggs to address the shortage, though neighboring countries’ rising production costs and declining output have limited import volumes reaching Iraq.
Official price enforcement and market monitoring
The ministry is implementing official pricing established by the Economic Ministers Council and directing oversight agencies to monitor local markets.
Monitoring focuses on preventing prices from exceeding government-set levels to protect consumers from escalating costs.
Domestic production incentives and feed strategies
The Agriculture Ministry is encouraging table egg producers to increase production capacity while implementing official prices and market oversight.
Long-term strategy focuses on reducing production costs through agricultural investment, particularly in feed crop cultivation following improved water availability and implementation of summer agricultural plans.
Priority cultivation includes:
Yellow corn
Soybean
Expected impact on feed imports
The ministry anticipates these measures will boost domestic feed production and reduce expensive imports, directly lowering production costs for egg producers.
Historic success in local potato seed production
Separately, the Agriculture Ministry announced the successful implementation of a domestic potato seed production project for the first time in Iraq’s history.
The Horticulture Department director, Hatim Kareem al-Ghazi, explained that all potato seeds currently cultivated in Iraq are imported, representing significant foreign currency expenditure.
The new initiative aims to:
Reduce reliance on imported seeds
Conserve foreign exchange
Provide seeds suited to Iraqi climate conditions
Technical production process
Seeds developed through the program begin with tissue culture laboratories, ensuring:
Freedom from viral diseases
High-quality classification for cultivation
High productivity rates
Climate resilience for Iraqi conditions
The program has reached the final stage for field cultivation, with initial testing in Mosul due to favorable environmental conditions.
Infrastructure and expansion plans
The ministry has established cold storage facilities in Baghdad and Hawija, with additional sites planned in coming days.
The program targets seed-specialist farmers initially, with gradual quantity increases toward covering Iraq’s total seed requirements.
Planned expansion includes:
Kirkuk governorate entry
Northern region production centers
Climate-suitable location selection
Public-private partnership model
Ministry officials emphasized that the government functions as a research and advisory body providing infrastructure and technical expertise, with private sector investment and operations completing production scaling.
This model reflects successful agricultural development approaches globally.
Conclusion:
Iraq’s agriculture sector is pursuing dual strategies to address immediate consumer concerns and long-term food security. The egg price control measures address current market pressures through production incentives and oversight, while the domestic potato seed program represents progress toward reduced import dependence and foreign currency conservation.
