Damascus-Sana
The activities of the training course held by the Arab Center for Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform for 20 agricultural engineers focused on methods of spreading the cultivation and production of saffron and the importance of this cultivation, which indicators indicate the success of its cultivation in most regions and its distinction at the global level.
The Center affirmed its readiness to cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture to spread the cultivation of saffron in the appropriate areas for its cultivation and to start practical steps in this direction. A technical committee was formed from the Ministry of Agriculture and Oxidation whose mission is to expand and conduct studies on cultivated saffron and wild saffron and to multiply it and provide the necessary shoots to expand its cultivation in many governorates.
The participants recommended the necessity of intensifying saffron cultivation experiments in Daraa, Homs, and the coast in the research stations affiliated with ACSAD in order to conduct studies on its productivity and multiplication and to guide farmers on methods of cultivation and care for it, considering the Syrian saffron according to experts with distinguished international specifications.
Participants emphasized the importance of framing the marketing of saffron production from bulbs, petals and stigmas to ensure the existence of internal and external markets that ensure marketing stability for the product and obtain investment returns, indicating the need to find a local saffron variety with a Syrian trade name and a commercial certificate to market it to global markets and to create a private institution that advertises the producers of the bulbs, their description and operations The agricultural sector needed to grow it, service it and the appropriate dates for its marketing.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Muhammad Hassan Qatna, stressed in a statement to reporters the importance of the session held on the dissemination of saffron cultivation, which is considered one of the plants grown in small holdings, explaining that the experiments carried out on its cultivation have proven the success of this crop and its importance as it provides good income for farmers.
Director of the Arab Center for Studies of Arid Zones and Arid Lands (ACSAD) Dr. Nasr El-Din Al-Obaid stated that ACSAD is working to spread the cultivation of saffron in poor agricultural areas as small rural family projects to increase their income and employ the largest possible number of manpower in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture, the General Union of Peasants and the Agricultural Engineers Association And agricultural research and the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Damascus, explaining that saffron is grown in areas where strategic crops are not cultivated and its holdings are very small and one hectare of cultivation produces one kilogram of saffron and its price ranges between 10 thousand and 15 thousand US dollars.
Ghossoub Abboud and Rehab Ali