Damascus-SANA
The agricultural production plan for the strategic and main crops for the next season included planting more than 3 million hectares, mostly wheat and barley, and the rest distributed between potatoes, maize, cotton, tobacco, tomato and sugar beet.
According to the plan presented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, it is scheduled to plant 1.5 million hectares of wheat, of which more than 556,000 hectares are in safe lands, and 1.4 million hectares of barley, of which about 483,000 hectares are in safe areas, in addition to about 30,000 hectares of spring, summer and autumn potatoes and Baal, and 28 .7 thousand hectares of yellow corn, 16.1 thousand hectares of cotton, 11.9 thousand hectares of tobacco, 9183 hectares of tomatoes, and 4385 hectares of sugar beet, all of which are in safe areas.
The Minister of Agriculture, Engineer Muhammad Hassan Qatna, and during a meeting with the directors of agriculture in the governorates today, confirmed that the government has taken all preparations for the success of the agricultural plan for the next season by securing 70,000 tons of wheat seed and 60 percent of the agricultural sector’s fuel needs, according to the maximum available capabilities, in addition to 55 thousand Tons of fertilizers are currently available in banks, including 25 thousand tons of phosphate and 30 thousand tons of nitrogen.
The Minister of Agriculture stressed the need for direct interaction between stakeholders in the governorates and farmers to know their needs for production requirements and others and the problems they face and their solutions, stressing that agriculture and agricultural production are not an option but a supreme national interest.
The Director General of the General Authority for the Management and Development of the Forest, Eng. Awfa Wassouf pointed to the planning of planting 47,800 hectares of wheat for the next season and securing the full implementation needs of production requirements and the implementation needs of the sugar beet crop plan.
In turn, the Director of Lattakia Agriculture, Engineer Basem Doba, explained that the governorate produces about 70 percent of the citrus crop in Syria, and it is expected to produce 563,000 tons, pointing to the start of marketing last month and its continuation until the end of next May.
Director of Aleppo Agriculture, Engineer Radwan Harsouni, indicated that 164,000 hectares of wheat are planned to be planted in the governorate’s safe areas, of which 102 thousand hectares are irrigated, with production requirements secured for them.
Ghassob Abboud