Hasaka-Sana
With the entry of the current month of September, the farmers of Hasaka Governorate begin the necessary preparations for the harvesting of the cotton crop, marketing it and production according to the field reports of the agricultural departments scattered throughout the governorate that it is good and does not suffer from major insect infestations as it remains within the natural rates as a result of the continuous agricultural instructions provided by the agricultural departments and the farmers' cooperation in their application .
The Director of Al-Hasakah Agriculture, Eng. Rajab Salama, explained to the SANA reporter that the reality of the cotton crop promises abundant production of cultivated areas amounting to about 3,883 hectares distributed in all regions of the governorate, especially the countryside of Abu Rasin, Darbasiyah and Tel Barak, pointing out that the crop is in its final stages of maturity where it is expected that farmers will start picking The first with early next week.
Regarding the marketing of the cottons produced in the governorate, Salama indicated that, up to its date, no receipt center has been identified in Hasaka, and the shipment will be made to the internal governorates such as Homs and Hama, or the neighboring provinces such as Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, after providing the marketed farmer with official books proving that the cotton originated from Hasaka governorate.
In turn, the head of the directorate's plant production department, Engineer Jalal Bilal, explained that through field trips to the fields and their inspection, the estimates of the production of the area planted with cotton in various parts of the governorate amount to 15 thousand tons, which is a good production according to the cultivated area and may increase to match the production of the last season.
For his part, the head of the directorate’s prevention department, Engineer Talal Al-Hajji, confirmed that the cotton season in the governorate this year is good, and that some sporadic infections with the prickly almond worm were recorded, but they remained within the normal range and did not cause harm to the farmers’s crop.
Khaled Al-Saleh and Tariq Al-Suleiman (cotton farmers) on the Tal Barak side demanded the necessity of expediting the setting of a cotton purchase price commensurate with production costs and achieving a profit margin for farmers. They also demanded an increase in freight compensation rates for farmers who would market the crop to purchasing centers in other Syrian governorates.
It is noteworthy that the amount of cottons produced in Al-Hasakah Governorate that were marketed to the purchasing centers in the internal Syrian governorates during the last season approached 18 thousand tons.
Nizar Hassan
