Rural Damascus - SANA
The most famous and oldest types of spices around the world, which are sold in grams and called red gold, have become a promising cultivation in various regions of Syria after the success of experiments that yielded good results that matched the best types of saffron produced worldwide.
SANA's camera monitored the saffron fields in Sargaya and Al-Zabadani and the developments it reached in terms of the number of flowers, the production and quality of stems, and the methods of cultivation, multiplication and spreading of it into a promising and rosy cultivation of strategic crops as a new economic resource for people with small holdings and poor families.
In a statement to SANA, Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Dr. Louai Aslan confirmed that the ministry seeks to develop and spread aromatic crops with economic returns on a large scale, explaining that after the success of saffron cultivation in the studied and tested sites, it was approved as a promising plant according to a working matrix to multiply and spread it in Syria over a period of 13 A year that includes three phases, the first of which included the cultivation of 2,630 corms (bulbous) in the Al-Bureij Forestry Nursery, the Ghouta and Sargaya Research Stations, and the Sweida Research Center, for a period of three years. And multiply it in the studied sites.
He explained that the second phase is for five years and aims to expand the areas of saffron cultivation and start distributing the shoots directly to farmers and start the tissue propagation of the plant, while the last phase ends with the program of genetic improvement of saffron, pointing to organizing seminars and workshops to introduce technicians and farmers how to cultivate it.
For her part, Dr. Magda Mufleh, Director of the General Authority for Scientific Agricultural Research, explained that the cultivation of saffron in Syria initially began 15 years ago at the Jawsiyah Al-Kharab Center in Homs and its productivity was high, but the conditions of war stopped its cultivation, and in 2018 a committee was formed from the Ministry of Agriculture and the General Authority for Agricultural Research And the University of Al-Baath, Aksad and the Federation of Chambers of Agriculture with the aim of reviving the cultivation of saffron and distributing the grapes to the families of the martyrs and the wounded of the Syrian Arab Army and the poor families through the Rural Development Project, especially since the cultivation of saffron in Syria gives the best results and the lowest costs.
In turn, the agricultural engineer, Ghassan Rostom, a specialist and expert in saffron cultivation, confirmed that the laboratory results revealed that the Al-Ghab Plain and the coastal areas give more clematings in number and size, while Sweida, Zabadani and the Qalamoun mountain range give more flowers and stems of excellent quality and the concentration of active substances in them is 20 percent more than the external varieties as It is not used organically and does not use any kind of fertilizers or chemical pesticides.
Rostom pointed out that the strenuous efforts by the private sector to cultivate, produce and spread saffron in Syria have reached seven governorates: Hama, Rural Damascus, Sweida, Homs, and most recently Lattakia, Tartous and Aleppo, and included the cultivation of 2 million saffron vines in them so far, indicating that the plan targets farmers with small holdings in order to secure Additional income of up to five million Syrian pounds during 3 years from only 200 square meters.
Engineer Reem Rostom, head of the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Department at the General Authority for Scientific Agricultural Research, spoke about the medicinal importance of the saffron plant, as it contains effective substances that make it a cure for a number of diseases and a general tonic for the body and it is safe even for the treatment of children.
With regard to the cultivation of saffron, the engineer Rostom indicated that the environmental conditions in Syria are ideal for the growth of this plant, which needs a temperature of 17 degrees Celsius in the soil and the precipitation is 600 mm. This is available in Syria at the time of cultivation from August 15 to September 15, but in the event of rain retention, it is irrigated. Twice and it begins to give flowers well in the second year, the plant is uprooted in the fourth year of planting and the bulbs are spread to increase the planted area. It is a perennial plant that can survive up to 8 years.
She indicated that harvesting the crop is a very sensitive process that begins with the flowering of the plant in November, when flowering continues for 15 days, and then the flowers are picked by hand in the early morning to maintain the highest concentration of active substances in the stigmas, and then the flowers are placed in a dry and clean place and the red-colored stigmas are separated. On the impurities and the yellow part of the flower and then drying the stigmas in an open and dry place away from the sun's rays for 3 to 5 days, and then canning and packaging them in a ready way for marketing and sale, calling on the concerned authorities to find a mechanism to organize the marketing and selling process in the name of Syria because the price of a gram of saffron is equivalent to a gram of gold externally and released It has the name red gold, but locally, as a result of its unregulated sale, its price does not exceed 5,000 Syrian pounds.
For his part, the farmer Tahsin Namous emphasized the success of his experience in cultivating saffron, as it gave more than 10 thousand flowers and did not require much cost or service.
Mahasin Al-Awad