The picking journey of the Levantine Rose began in the wings with passion and hope for abundant production

Damascus-Sana countryside

The people of Al-Marah village in Damascus countryside are waiting impatiently for the harvest of the Syrian rose after work, attention and care for the rose bushes scattered in their village fields whose name has been associated with the Syrian rose due to support and follow-up by the Syrian Trust for Development and other parties to expand the cultivation of this rose that carried the name of Syria to all parts The world deservedly deserved to be included with everything associated with it in the list of intangible human heritage in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at the end of the year 2019.

Men, women and children from the village rush after the middle of May every year since early morning to the fields of the rose rose with great joy forming a wonderful beauty, hoping that the season will be the level of their aspirations that are waiting for implementation.

A good season started with a pound of the people of the village of Al-Marah differs from the seasons of previous years as a result of sufficient rainy precipitation that fell during this year, according to a number of farmers told the delegate of Sana, who visited the fields and looked at the harvest season, stressing that the Damascus countryside governorate and other concerned authorities were keen to secure the harvest requirements and that It helps farmers achieve added value to their crops.

Imad Bakir was one of the first people to start harvesting with his daughter, he said that “the buttons of the rose are bigger this season.” Hoping that the yield and production will be better for the farmer who works throughout the year and up to the harvest that everyone is waiting for to secure their needs, indicating that within 15 days the people have finished Al-Qitaf, wishing the Association concerned with Shami Rose to strive with other parties to create places to store rose products to achieve greater value for their crops.

He is following the harvesting process and choosing the rose that was mismatched between Yusef Bakir that this season is good and the quality of roses is better compared to past seasons, while Mohamed Reda Dawi expressed his love and passion for the rose, considering that the harvest season is a traditional wedding for most people because the rose occupies a special place for people and is the basis For their livelihood.

While wandering in the fields of the rose to inspect the bushes whose harvest has come, Muhammad Abbas confirmed that this year’s production is better as a result of the recent rains, indicating that he has 40 dunums planted with the rose flower, which has gained about one and a half tons so far, and the harvest is still continuing, hoping that the price will be better From the coming years.

Abbas saw that the most important work that started this season was to transfer the device for extracting water and rose oil to the field directly in a manner that saves time, effort and cost, and to be able to extract directly after the harvest, to achieve an added value for the product, stressing that the province has secured for it the extraction requirements of gas and others.

Hala Al-Bitar is one of the women who is keen to go to the fields with her family to enjoy the rituals of the rose harvest. She showed that this season she works with passion, love and a sweet spirit, because production is better than previous years, pointing out that caring and caring for the rose is a priority of her work before the harvest.

Mansour Abbas said, as he followed the distillation process and extracting rose water, that “early harvest is much better because dew beads are present and have not evaporated yet to preserve the essential oil because it is the most important in the extraction process and the product is of high quality.” He explained that after harvesting the roses are spread slightly and put the appropriate amount in The device has a high temperature and once the distillation starts, the device is cooled and its temperature reduced, considering that the first 10 liters extracted from rose water are used for decoration and the second 10 liters are used for the food industry because their fats are lighter.

During the purification of the roses to choose the appropriate one for the rose and jam syrup, Al-Bitar Dahriya Umm Abdo indicated that she comes to the field to choose the appropriate from the roses to produce the jam and the syrup and sort the button from the rose in order to make her confine, confirming that the rose is an important thing in her life and accomplishes all the mortar of her house from the syrup and rose jam during the harvest period .

Al-Bitar indicated that rose syrup needs leaves only after they are sifted and rubbed, pointing out that every kilo of roses needs approximately four liters of water after boiling water, the rose leaves are placed in them and are blown for one time and then piled for four hours after which they are filtered and tied and put the appropriate amount of The sugar is then boiled and during the boiling process, a tinted syrup and a little lemon salt and preservatives are put, and after boiling it to a certain degree, it is cooled and packed, confirming that this method preserves the product for five years.

The head of the Al-Marah Society for the Revival and Development of Shami Rose Madin Bitar stressed that the work has become doubled after the inclusion of the rose and its products on the list of intangible world heritage to expand its production and develop its industries, pointing out that the total area planted with the Shami rose reached this season to about 3500 dunums in the village after the reclamation operations that took place The great support provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Syrian Secretariat for Development is expected to produce production for this season between 50 and 60 tons of roses, knowing that the price of one kilogram of green roses this season is 2,500 liras, while the price of a kilogram of the dry rose button reaches about 7,000 liras.

Bitar pointed out that work is underway to produce 500 grams of essential oil at a price ranging between 80 and 90 thousand pounds per gram according to international prices, stressing that the association is keen to protect and support the farmer to enable him to reach a yield that achieves the added value, given that agricultural roads that are paved for access are currently being paved. To the fields of the rose rose easily and easily, and there are efforts to enable farmers to obtain equipment for extracting water and essential oil, which is what we have seen among some.

The Secretary of the Agricultural Society in the village of Al-Marah, Ameen Hamza Al-Bitar, seemed optimistic after the farmers managed to increase the areas planted with the Shami Rose and reclaim other areas and dig two wells to secure complementary irrigation of the rose in the seasons of drought, indicating that “the cultivation of roses in the village is very old and there were large areas but weather conditions and lack of The rain during the past seasons contributed to the exit of many of the rose fields from the production process.

The secretary of the association said that the people have a desire to develop the rose cultivation and market it by opening greater areas for manufacturing and supporting farmers by obtaining devices for distillation of the rose to produce rose water and rose oil required in the world, indicating that the cultivation of the rose began to see improvement after having been drilling two wells located in the place of cultivation Dense flower, but it needs to be equipped to easily deliver its water to the fields, demanding the creation of a large reservoir at the top of a hill in the village, and connecting it with pipes for modern irrigation to the fields and installing meters on it to collect the price of water from the peasants, even symbolically, giving the farmer hope to develop the rose flower and not be afraid of the years of drought, stressing the time Himself, the necessity of finding a effective means to combat the insect that afflicts the rose and contributes to its dressing, because all the methods previously used were ineffective.

The Levantine remains the source of beauty, absolute femininity, the song of the first poets, and a mark that distinguishes the Syrian identity, which is planted in every home, and school students race to it in the morning, and its view gives the place a special aesthetic in its colors.

Ambassador of Ismail