Damascus-SANA
Today, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations “FAO”, opened a rural market to sell the products of rural families’ projects next to its headquarters in Al-Baramkeh, Damascus.
The Minister of Agriculture, Engineer Mohamed Hassan Qatana, indicated that rural markets are linked to production units established in cooperation with the FAO at the level of production areas, and a group of rural families market their products directly to the markets in the governorates.
Minister Qatana explained that the market is distinguished by collecting products from all governorates and making them available to citizens at prices determined by the product itself.
According to Minister Qatna, the Ministry of Agriculture began in 2005 by empowering rural women and granting loans to rural women to establish their own projects, but the products were suffering from marketing difficulties, which necessitated linking them to production units and then markets to help them market their products and be an incentive to produce larger quantities.
The market includes, as stated by the Director of Agricultural and Family Rural Development in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Raeda Ayoub, 72 products manufactured by about 400 rural families at the governorate level, and these numbers are subject to increase on a daily basis, pointing to the importance of opening the hall in the city of Damascus because these products are not available there.
The chief expert of the FAO in Syria, Alfredo Impelia, explained that the market is one of the ways to support groups of rural women and encourage them to market their traditional rural products of food, textiles and others, while Haya Abu Assaf, the organization's assistant representative for program affairs, indicated that FAO trained rural women on how to establish small production projects for products. rural and marketing methods.
In turn, the head of the Rural Development Department in Homs Governorate, Mona Mahfut, indicated that among the products offered for sale by the Homs Department are almonds, apples, vinegar, dried apples and bulgur, while Wafaa Al-Shaq from Quneitra Governorate stated that she displays the materials produced in the manufacturing unit established by the Ministry of Agriculture in the village of Bir Ajam and among its most important products. Circassian cheese.
The hall receives its visitors daily from 8 am to 3 pm, increasing the working hours to 12 hours, from 8 am to 8 pm after a short period, according to those in charge of it.
Ghassob Abboud