Assad govt says local wheat will reduce imports by half

The regime's Agriculture minister stated that in 2023 his government will import half the amount of wheat it imported in the previous year due to an expected increase in the local crop.

Muhammad Hassan Qatana said in an interview with Reuters: "This year, the rains at the beginning of the season were slightly delayed, but all the planned areas were cultivated, and the rains came with a good distribution and irrigated almost throughout the agricultural season, so the winter crop production was very excellent, and we are optimistic that it will be slightly higher than planned." Because the weather conditions were perfect."

"The quantities that will be imported this year will equal fifty percent of what Syria (the regime) used to import in previous years, and therefore this is considered a good achievement," the minister said.

He added, "Production at the aggregate level is slightly less than the need, because some areas in the northern region were not cultivated, and all the areas that were cultivated yielded good yields."

He went on to say: "Of course, when the entire Syrian Arab lands return to their stability, then we will be able to go back to developing our production and achieving our self-sufficiency, because Syria, in the pre-war period, had reached a production of more than 4 and a half million per year." .

Northeastern Syria is vital to the country's grain production and is not under the control of the Assad regime.

Last month, the government of the regime faced criticism about the price it set for receiving a kilo of local wheat from farmers, before setting the price at 2,800 Syrian pounds.