Reporting by Omar Sheikh Mohamed; Translation by Rana Abdul
(Eqtsad)- Farmers in Daraa province in southern Syria have started to harvest their crops early this year, as they have for most of the years of the Syrian revolution.
They harvest them early for fear of fires consuming them whether by accident or intention, with the continued insecure situation and a host of other chronic problems that overshadows their life for the sixth year in a row, from the rise in price of essentials needed for production, such as seeds, manure, and insect repellents, to the lack of qualified agricultural laborers, the lack of agricultural machines, or their reduced number due to large damages they have withstood due to their being bombed or sabotaged or due to long years of them being used without undergoing maintenance, or their age, which led to many of them exiting the circuit of work and production.
If the situation in any of the areas in the liberated province are good and acceptable, despite the continued war, due to the availability of some agricultural equipment, fuel derivatives, work necessitates, Daraa’s western countryside is in its worst situation.
The area witnesses a scarcity in everything, the crop is harvested using sickles in that part of Deraa province due to the lack fuel derivatives needed to operate agricultural equipment, despite the many assurances that different parties active on the ground have made on the basis they will provide what is needed to operate the equipment.
The lawyer Mohammad al-Mouthnib, deputy head of Free Daraa Provincial Council, confirmed to Eqtsad, “a decision was made at the conclusion of the last meeting, which included active parties on the ground, Daraa’s provincial council, the courthouse, and the local councils.
Based on it, the necessary amounts of fuel derivatives will be provided for the agricultural harvesters, thrashers, and tractors in Yarmouk Martyr Brigade controlled areas according to a particular mechanism.” He indicated that a special committee was formed in this framework, with the task of estimating the necessary amounts of fuel needed, the mechanisms to get into the area and distribute it to the agricultural machines available in the mentioned area.
The engineer Nazih Kadah, responsible for the agricultural sector in the Free Deraa Provincial Council confirmed from his side, “the situation of crops for the current season has been acceptable, despite the large reductions in the expected amounts produced, especially wheat, the prominent crop and which is depended on economically.”
Kadah indicated that the measures taken by particular parties in the liberated areas to market the agricultural crop of wheat this year. He indicated in a meeting with Eqtsad that the areas planted with wheat this year in Daraa province, reached around 220 thousand acres, its production is expected to reach higher than 20 thousand tons of wheat, and the council expects to buy 15 thousand tons, indicating that the price of a ton was pegged at 225$. He added, “the committee was formed from the provincial council, seed institute, directorates to increase seeds and agricultural, and the civil defense. Their task is creating the right conditions for marketing the wheat crop this current year.”
The price of a ton of wheat was pegged in a way that serves farmers better according to his description, Kadah said. “Hemp bags will be provided for free, and the council will work to buy quantities of wheat which it will put aside as seeds for the coming season.” He invited all farmers in the liberated areas to sell their agricultural crops to the parties in the liberated areas and not sell it to the regime institutions.
He called in farmers to boycott selling their products to merchants who are dealing with the regime institutions because they are trading the strength of the people of these liberated areas which the regime is returning to them as weapons of murder and destruction according to his description. He added, “the permanent selling centers are distributed in all parts of the province, and temporary centers have been updated for this season, and are ready to receive the farmer’s production of wheat, including the production from Daraa’s western countryside and the areas around Yarmouk basin.”
More efforts and measures have been taken by authorities in liberated Daraa to open safe routes to allow the passage of agricultural products coming from the countryside of the Yarmouk basin to the markets and agricultural marketing centers. Eye witnesses from the farmers in the liberated areas confirmed they will sell their product to the seed institution in the liberated areas of Daraa.
They clarified that the price is good and suitable, and they will not succumb to any financial temptation whether from the regime’s side or from the merchants dealing with the regime. They indicated the need, “to take every measure to prevent the wheat crop going from the liberated areas to the regime controlled areas as it persists in besieging the people and tries to target them with all weapons possible.”
Abdullatif, a farmer, said, “even if the price placed in Daraa’s liberated institutions is less than that of the regime institutions, I will sell to the seed institution in the liberated areas, and I will not contribute economically to helping the regime.” He called upon all farmers in the liberated areas to follow his move, and cause the regime institutions to miss out on this opportunity, given its persistence in killing the people as he said.
(Eqtsad)- Farmers in Daraa province in southern Syria have started to harvest their crops early this year, as they have for most of the years of the Syrian revolution.
They harvest them early for fear of fires consuming them whether by accident or intention, with the continued insecure situation and a host of other chronic problems that overshadows their life for the sixth year in a row, from the rise in price of essentials needed for production, such as seeds, manure, and insect repellents, to the lack of qualified agricultural laborers, the lack of agricultural machines, or their reduced number due to large damages they have withstood due to their being bombed or sabotaged or due to long years of them being used without undergoing maintenance, or their age, which led to many of them exiting the circuit of work and production.
If the situation in any of the areas in the liberated province are good and acceptable, despite the continued war, due to the availability of some agricultural equipment, fuel derivatives, work necessitates, Daraa’s western countryside is in its worst situation.
The area witnesses a scarcity in everything, the crop is harvested using sickles in that part of Deraa province due to the lack fuel derivatives needed to operate agricultural equipment, despite the many assurances that different parties active on the ground have made on the basis they will provide what is needed to operate the equipment.
The lawyer Mohammad al-Mouthnib, deputy head of Free Daraa Provincial Council, confirmed to Eqtsad, “a decision was made at the conclusion of the last meeting, which included active parties on the ground, Daraa’s provincial council, the courthouse, and the local councils.
Based on it, the necessary amounts of fuel derivatives will be provided for the agricultural harvesters, thrashers, and tractors in Yarmouk Martyr Brigade controlled areas according to a particular mechanism.” He indicated that a special committee was formed in this framework, with the task of estimating the necessary amounts of fuel needed, the mechanisms to get into the area and distribute it to the agricultural machines available in the mentioned area.
The engineer Nazih Kadah, responsible for the agricultural sector in the Free Deraa Provincial Council confirmed from his side, “the situation of crops for the current season has been acceptable, despite the large reductions in the expected amounts produced, especially wheat, the prominent crop and which is depended on economically.”
Kadah indicated that the measures taken by particular parties in the liberated areas to market the agricultural crop of wheat this year. He indicated in a meeting with Eqtsad that the areas planted with wheat this year in Daraa province, reached around 220 thousand acres, its production is expected to reach higher than 20 thousand tons of wheat, and the council expects to buy 15 thousand tons, indicating that the price of a ton was pegged at 225$. He added, “the committee was formed from the provincial council, seed institute, directorates to increase seeds and agricultural, and the civil defense. Their task is creating the right conditions for marketing the wheat crop this current year.”
The price of a ton of wheat was pegged in a way that serves farmers better according to his description, Kadah said. “Hemp bags will be provided for free, and the council will work to buy quantities of wheat which it will put aside as seeds for the coming season.” He invited all farmers in the liberated areas to sell their agricultural crops to the parties in the liberated areas and not sell it to the regime institutions.
He called in farmers to boycott selling their products to merchants who are dealing with the regime institutions because they are trading the strength of the people of these liberated areas which the regime is returning to them as weapons of murder and destruction according to his description. He added, “the permanent selling centers are distributed in all parts of the province, and temporary centers have been updated for this season, and are ready to receive the farmer’s production of wheat, including the production from Daraa’s western countryside and the areas around Yarmouk basin.”
More efforts and measures have been taken by authorities in liberated Daraa to open safe routes to allow the passage of agricultural products coming from the countryside of the Yarmouk basin to the markets and agricultural marketing centers. Eye witnesses from the farmers in the liberated areas confirmed they will sell their product to the seed institution in the liberated areas of Daraa.
They clarified that the price is good and suitable, and they will not succumb to any financial temptation whether from the regime’s side or from the merchants dealing with the regime. They indicated the need, “to take every measure to prevent the wheat crop going from the liberated areas to the regime controlled areas as it persists in besieging the people and tries to target them with all weapons possible.”
Abdullatif, a farmer, said, “even if the price placed in Daraa’s liberated institutions is less than that of the regime institutions, I will sell to the seed institution in the liberated areas, and I will not contribute economically to helping the regime.” He called upon all farmers in the liberated areas to follow his move, and cause the regime institutions to miss out on this opportunity, given its persistence in killing the people as he said.
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