Hama-Sana
The Al-Ghab area in Hama governorate is witnessing an increasing demand from farmers to grow oil crops of various kinds, compared to other crops that were more widespread, as a result of their large financial returns.
Engineer Wafiq Zarouf, director of plant wealth at the General Authority for the Management and Development of the Forest, said in a statement to SANA Economic Bulletin that the areas planted with oil crops in the lands under the supervision of the work of the authority since the beginning of the cultivation operations until now amounted to 2190 hectares out of the total plan prescribed for the current season, which amounts to 370 hectares, indicating that 1,800 hectares were planted with groundnuts, 119 hectares with soybeans, 134 hectares with sunflower, 52 hectares with oil seeds and 85 hectares with sesame.
Zarouf pointed out that the operations of inventorying the lands planted with oil crops in the region are still ongoing in all agricultural departments, so the areas will be larger than the aforementioned figures, noting that the cultivation of these crops of all kinds usually begins after the harvest of the wheat and barley seasons and continues until the end of this month.
For his part, the head of the Salhab Agricultural Association, Hassan Wanasy, pointed out that the reason for the great demand by the farmers of the Al-Ghab region to grow oil crops is due to the fact that they generate good profits for them as a result of the markedly high market prices during the past years, and that their production cycle is relatively short compared to other crops that are more Cost and less rent, indicating that the jungle lands are suitable for the cultivation of most oil crops with high productivity.
For his part, the farmer Khaldoun Al-Jassem stated that he has been cultivating the peanut crop for more than 20 years, and it is one of his favorite crops, so he gained great experience in it, indicating that the oil crops are popular in the local market and have many customers and the process of discharging the product is easy and accessible.
A number of farmers talked about the difficulties facing agricultural work, most notably the shortage of fuel quantities, the high wages of labor and the high costs of shipping, demanding the concerned authorities to secure and support agricultural production requirements such as fertilizers and fuels.
Salem Al-Hussein
SANA Economic Bulletin
