Sweida-Sana
The fruit drying plant in the village of Sahwa al-Balata in the southeastern countryside of Sweida is one of the qualitative development projects at the level of NGOs in the governorate of Sweida.
According to the president of the association, Sahar Matar, the factory created by the Sahwa al-Balata Women Association for Development, with funding from the Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the civil society, and began working on it yesterday, according to the association's president, Sahar Matar.
She indicated that the plant is currently absorbing, as a first stage, about 3 tons of agricultural products per month, with a plan to expand it during the coming period, explaining that the idea of establishing it came from the association’s endeavor to establish a development project that constitutes an addition to its affiliated projects.
According to its supervisor, agricultural engineer Zaid Abdul Salam, the factory attracts clean agricultural production, who has not found an opportunity for marketing or storage, which gives it an added value after drying and selling it to achieve a profit that supports charitable work in the association in addition to drying agricultural products for farmers and citizens who wish to do so for a fee.
The factory provides, as Abd al-Salam explained, 22 job opportunities, and work is done in the shift system, with lines for washing, removing the pulp of the fruits, peeling and cutting them, and a drying oven characterized by technical specifications that shorten the drying time, indicating the importance of the plant as a starting point for pushing the agricultural production wheel in the governorate towards industrialization.
According to the director of As-Suwayda area of the Ecumenical Relations Department, Raghda Al-Ashhab, the department provided a grant to create the factory within the association support program, after subjecting its workers to a training course on project management by specialized trainers.
During a tour of Sana’s camera in the factory, two agricultural engineers, Nevin and Dima al-Bunni expressed their happiness at the job opportunity that was provided to them in the laboratory in accordance with their academic qualifications, while the worker Faten Abu Hassoun stated that the factory formed the first job opportunity for her, indicating that she receives a wage according to working hours with additional work sometimes. .
The Director of Social Affairs and Labor in Sweida, Bushra Jarbou, stated that the plant project confirms strengthening the participation of civil society in supporting the local development process, stressing the need for associations to play their social developmental role and develop their performance and tools, which will positively affect the beneficiaries.
The head of the Suhwa al-Balata municipality, Saeed al-Bunni pointed out the importance of agricultural industrialization projects that serve the farms as well as their workers, especially with the presence of agricultural products with good quantities of grapes, apples and other fruits in the village of Suhwa al-Balata.
Previously, the Suhwa al-Balata Women Association for Development in Sweida had established several projects and initiatives, including a bakery, an agricultural nursery, and an environmental park.
Long lifespan
