Damascus-Sana
The Executive Office of the General Peasants' Union discussed in its meeting today overcoming the difficulties and problems facing the implementation of the agricultural production plan for the season 2020-2021 and the ongoing preparations for harvesting the wheat and barley crops and drawing them from farmers in accordance with the specifications set for receipt in addition to discussing the planned plan for cotton and sugar beet crops and the requirements for their implementation.
Participants in the meeting held today in the building of the Ministry of Agriculture affirmed the commitment of all concerned parties to the priority of the agricultural sector and to provide support for it, especially to productive institutions such as poultry, cattle, fodder, seed and livestock multiplication, and interest in agricultural scientific research as it is the basis for agricultural development in addition to helping the farmer in providing production requirements and mitigating the effects Conditions the country is going through.
They stressed the need to develop common visions for future agricultural work within the governmental directions by activating the union and the agricultural chambers to contribute to the development of the national economy, noting the role of the federation and the need to bypass the supervisory role to reach an investment and productive role, stressing that the economic blockade can only be resisted by increasing production and this needs concerted action. Efforts of all concerned to implement the agricultural plan in its entirety and to cultivate every cultivable inch in a way that achieves self-sufficiency.
They called for a review of the prices of production inputs such as fertilizers, fodder and pesticides, support for investment projects, and an increase in the prices of receiving strategic agricultural crops from farmers.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Muhammad Hassan Qatana, stressed the importance of complementarity between the Ministry and the Union in organizing and implementing the agricultural plan, securing production requirements and solving the problems of the agricultural sector in a way that serves the farmer and achieves stability for him and contributes to increasing production.
For his part, President of the General Peasants' Union Ahmed Saleh Ibrahim stressed the need to increase interest in farmers and support them by securing production requirements at the appropriate time, pointing to the need for continuous meetings between those involved in the agricultural sector and to identify challenges and solve them.
In a statement to reporters, the union’s vice president, Khaled Khazal, stated that the General Peasants ’Union had set its capabilities to secure the harvest season and prepare for it, and to secure the harvest in cooperation between the ministry and the union, in order to reach a good marketing of wheat.
For his part, the Director of Plant Production at the Ministry of Agriculture, Eng. Ahmed Haidar, said in a similar statement that the rate of implementation of the wheat crop for the current season was 95 percent. As for cotton, it was planned to cultivate 78 thousand hectares, about 32 thousand hectares were planted and the production was between 55 and 57 thousand tons, and currently it is being done. Planning to plant 40 thousand hectares.
Regarding the sugar beet crop, Haidar indicated that it is planned to plant an autumn loop in the tenth month, indicating that coordination is continuing with the Ministry of Industry to restart the Tal Salhab sugar plant, and the plant was contracted with farmers to plant 4,385 hectares, and it was decided to import about 47 tons of seeds from the General Organization for Seed Multiplication for cultivation. Spaces that have been contracted.
