Daraa-Sana
With the start of the autumn potato crop uprooting in Daraa and its entry into the market, the Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Directorate expects production to reach 24,375 tons.
According to the Assistant Director of Agriculture, Eng. Bassam Al-Hasheesh, the planned area for planting autumn potatoes amounted to 213 hectares. 975 hectares were cultivated, with an increase of 762 hectares. The cultivated areas were mainly concentrated in Nawa, Azraa, Tafas, Dael and others. Al-Hashish said in a statement to the SANA Economic Bulletin .. The directorate cooperates with the departments concerned with agriculture. To secure the production requirements of seeds, fertilizers, and fuels at encouraging prices for farmers, through the Seed Multiplication Corporation, the Fuel Subcommittee and branches of cooperative agricultural banks.
Citizens hope that the entry of autumn potato production to the market will contribute to reducing prices that have reached the limits of one thousand pounds per kilogram, while farmers demand more support, especially in the field of increasing the quantities of fertilizer and fuel for agriculture, away from the exploitation of traders on the black market.
For his part, the head of the Agricultural Affairs Office of the Daraa Farmers Union, Ahmed Hegazy, stated that planting potatoes for the fall harvest is expensive and production is low compared to the main plantation, stressing that the increase in the cultivated area, the entry of fall potatoes to the market and the suspension of marketing outside Syria contributed to lowering potato prices up to 500 pounds per kilogram.
Qasim Al-Miqdad