Hummus-Sana
The cultivation of grapes is receiving increasing attention by farmers in the eastern countryside of Homs due to its suitability to the climate and ease of marketing it, as the governorate occupies the first place in terms of cultivated area and quantity of production.
On a tour by SANA's correspondent on the agricultural areas between farms, Ghassan Jalahoum from the village of Firouzeh, he owns about 40 dunums planted with branes of sweet and olive grapes (red and white), indicating that there are difficulties facing their work and represented in the scarcity of water, since their perches are irrigated and depend on well water in addition to the high cost of fertilizers and medicines. Agricultural.
Jalahoum pointed out that the grape harvest begins on the twentieth of this month and continues until the end of October, and the marketing process takes place in the markets of Homs and some governorates, and the price is subject to supply and demand, calling for the necessity to market the crop through positive intervention institutions to help farmers market their crops at reasonable prices.
For his part, farmer Louay Al-Saadah from the Eastern Center explained that he owns 20 dunums planted in Larache for table grapes, in addition to 55 dunums planted with grapes for juice, and the harvest this season is good despite its exposure to some damage due to high temperatures.
As for the marketing of production, he pointed out that the marketing of Larache grapes is through the cardamom market. As for the juicy grapes, they are marketed to the grape manufacturing company through agricultural associations, or they are marketed through special manufacturing plants at the best price.
The Director of Homs Agriculture, Engineer Nazih Al-Rifai, explained in a statement to the SANA Economic Bulletin that the grape production estimates amounted to 71 731 tons during the current season out of the total cultivated area of 190073 dunums and the number of trees amounting to 11274804 trees, of which 10342851 are rain-fed trees.
He said: Most of the governorate’s production of grapes is concentrated in the “Eastern Center” region, especially in the villages of (Zaidal, Firouzeh, Jabriya, Sakra, and Muhajireen). Homs witnessed in recent years a great turnout due to many factors, the most important of which is its resistance to drought and ease of marketing compared to other crops and the presence of a public company for the manufacture of grapes in the governorate in addition to private laboratories as well.
In turn, Mowafak Zakaria, head of the marketing office of the Peasants Union branch in Homs, stated that the grapes of Larache are marketed in the local markets. As for the juicy grapes, they are mainly marketed to a company that manufactures grapes under a prior contract with farmers through agricultural societies, pointing out the need to increase the quantities marketed by the Syrian Trade in order to protect farmers from Exploitation and control of merchants.
The governorate’s production of vine for the last season reached 66,987 tons, which were marketed to juice factories and to local markets as table grapes. Grapes are also used in many villages in some industries such as molasses, raisins, and others.
Saba Kharibak
SANA Economic Bulletin
