Latakia - Sana
The Tobacco Purchase Committees in Lattakia Governorate began receiving the harvest from farmers for the 2020-2021 season in Al Baraem and Dalieh Centers in Jableh countryside, amid a state of satisfaction and satisfaction with the new price set by the General Tobacco Corporation, with an increase of 67 percent.
The engineer, Ayman Qara Falah, Director of Agriculture and Scientific Research at the Foundation, stated in a statement to SANA that the number of parcels that will be received at Al Baraem Center is 3000 parcels, at a daily supply rate of between 200 and 250 parcels of the municipal variety known as “Sik the Girl”, indicating that the Foundation agreed to allow licensing and cultivation 2 dunums of the "Sekk Al-girl" category for those who would like to work in the cultivation of tobacco in the next season, given that the agricultural holdings are small and there are no alternative crops in the areas where they are cultivated, provided that the applications will start in October of next year.
For her part, Eng. Samar Al-Shakh, Head of the Agriculture Department at the Coastal Region Branch, explained that the licensed area for the cultivation of “Sik al-Bint” in the countryside of Jableh amounted to 4702 dunams, and the cultivated area reached 2,106 dunums, while 7500 parcels are expected to be received from farmers.
Salman Al-Abbas, Director of Planning and International Cooperation at the General Tobacco Corporation and Chairman of the Supervisory Committee for Tobacco Purchase for the 2020-2021 season, referred to coordination and cooperation between the corporation, the General Union of Peasants and the Ministry of Agriculture to study the price increase for all cultivated varieties in light of the high costs and production requirements commensurate with the yield of one dunum. The largest share of the increase was for the “Girl Sikk” category, by 67 percent, indicating that the technical specifications of tobacco paper in terms of length, texture, elasticity and luster play an important role in the process of estimation and price determination.
On the process of supporting tobacco farmers, Eng. Fikret Barakat, Director of the Coastal Region Branch of the General Organization for Tobacco, stressed the continuation of providing support to tobacco farmers by providing the requirements of the agricultural plan of medicines, fertilizers, and technical supervision at all stages of cultivation, in addition to continuing communication with farmers to receive complaints, discuss objections and decide on them.
Mohamed Hassan, head of the Agricultural Association in Jableh, stressed the importance of offering fair and encouraging prices in order to increase the areas planted with tobacco and motivate farmers to hand over the entire crop to the establishment in light of the high prices of various agricultural work requirements.
SANA met a number of tobacco farmers who talked about the reality of agriculture and production. Farmer Yasser Ibrahim Mahmoud from Al Zahraa village explained that the work of evaluation committees and evaluation of the type of crop is going well and fairly, while farmer Ali Aziz Sobh from the Jableh area asked to determine tobacco purchase prices in proportion to the agricultural costs. He encourages the farmer to increase production and guarantees a profitable financial return for him.
Ali Darwish Saqr, Manhal Ibrahim and Ghiyath Ahmed, on the Dalieh side, noted the decision to raise the prices of receiving tobacco, which compensates for part of the burdens incurred by the farmer during the season. Nadima Ahmed “farmer” referred to the importance of the step of increasing the marketed tobacco prices by farmers as it is a basic source of livelihood for the people of the region. .
Rasha Raslan
