Minister of Agriculture: Securing large quantities of fertilizers and 70 percent of farmers' needs from diesel

Damascus-Sana

The Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Hassan Qatana, announced that farmers have secured large quantities of fertilizers and about 70 percent of their diesel needs for this season, indicating that the ministry allowed bypassing the agricultural plan in favor of the wheat crop and calls for cultivating every inch of wheat to ensure self-sufficiency of this strategic crop.

Minister Qatana explained during his meeting today with a number of representatives of the local media that the area relied upon for wheat cultivation is 1.5 million hectares of irrigated and Baal, indicating that each one hectare of irrigated wheat yields no less than 4 tons, while the yield per hectare of rain-fed wheat does not exceed one ton of wheat.

Qatana pointed out that the government worked to provide the requirements for agricultural production of diesel, fertilizers and seeds within the capabilities in conditions of war and siege, as 70 percent of the needs of the agricultural sector were secured from diesel fuel and nitrogen fertilizers were also secured and distributed to farmers until the end of this month to cover the entire wheat needs from The first batch of fertilizers, pointing out that the government is seeking to secure the rest of the needs, to provide them as a second batch in February.

He pointed to planting 52 percent of the 1.5 million hectares of wheat cultivation plan for this season, half of which is irrigated and the other half is Baal, pointing out that the Ministry has secured 82 thousand tons of wheat seed to implement the plan, as all screening and sterilization centers were operated on 24 hours at a rate of 3 shifts per day. About 50 thousand tons of it will be distributed, and the rest will be distributed in the coming days.

He said: As a result of the deficit in agricultural machinery, a circular was made to governors and managers of agriculture to place all tractors in the public sector at the disposal of farmers, and they are leased to them at the cost price, and a unified pricing has been set by the sub-committees in the governorates for the cultivation of a dunum so that this is not exploited.

Qatana revealed that the ministry will hold a conference to develop the agricultural sector at the end of January next year to study the reality of agriculture in Syria and the difficulties and problems and to develop appropriate solutions to re-promote the agricultural sector in its two parts plant and animal and come up with recommendations and decisions to work on in the future, stressing that the development of the agricultural sector and its advancement is the responsibility of everyone because it is the mainstay of the economy. National, whether in the types of crops or with the support of farmers to be able to return to agricultural investment, and this needs the cooperation of everyone, noting the role of the media in keeping pace with the work of the Ministry of Agriculture and considering it the right hand to revitalize the culture of agriculture.

In his turn, the Director of the Agricultural Bank referred to the bank’s role in supporting farmers through the process of lending, securing supplies and paying the values ​​of agricultural crops, pointing out that the Foreign Trade Corporation was mandated to import all of Syria’s needs of fertilizers, as 40 thousand tons of fertilizers were secured, which is sufficient for 75 percent of the need for cultivation. Wheat.

For his part, President of the General Peasants' Union, Ahmed Saleh Ibrahim, spoke about the union’s role in implementing the agricultural plan and supporting farmers as a partner to the Ministry of Agriculture, indicating that the agricultural associations will contribute to spreading the culture of smallholder cultivation with wheat by encouraging farmers who have small holdings to cultivate it.

Ghossoub Abboud