Hama-Sana
The Salamiyah area in the eastern countryside of Hama witnesses harvesting operations of the pistachio crop, which is famous for its large-scale production due to its suitability for cultivation and its good returns to farmers in rain-fed areas.
SANA visited a number of pistachio-growing areas in the region, including Zagrine and Talhassan Pasha located in the northern Salamiyah countryside, and met with a number of farmers of Aleppo pistachio trees, where Jassim Al-Hamid stated that the production of this season is the best and most useful compared to the rest of the other seasons, especially with the trees receiving service, care, watering and pesticides. The necessary insects and rainfall at good rates, indicating that the production of each tree on his land ranges between 30 and 40 kilograms, and with this quantity, pistachio trees in Salamiyah countryside come second after Morek in the northern Hama countryside in terms of yield and the areas planted therein.
The farmer Jaber Al-Mohammadi from the village of Talhassan Pasha in the southern countryside of Salamiyah expects that the quantities of pistachios produced in the village for this season will reach more than 7 tons, and each kilogram will be sold for 4 thousand Syrian pounds, explaining that achieving this abundant production came as a result of controlling insect pests by spraying them with pesticides and following up. By engineers and agricultural technicians, pointing out that its fruits have a high nutritional value and a good return for farmers in rain-fed areas compared to other crops, in addition to the fact that this tree does not require many services and its fruits are sold at high prices and are in great demand in the markets.
For his part, the farmer, Muhammad Al-Maat, explained that there are two methods of harvesting, the first is manual harvesting by hammering with a stick on the branches and growths that carry the fruit clusters, so the ripe fruits fall and the empty fruits remain. Where the worker cuts the entire fruit cluster by hand and throws it under the tree after laying a cloth or plastic cover underneath it to collect the fruitful clusters by female workers and rub them between the palms of the hand where the full and ripe fruits are separated from the clusters that remain retaining the empty fruits and then the fruits can be graded and packaged in carton or wooden boxes In order to market it as a green crop.
Nayef al-Hamwi, director of the Agricultural Department in Salamiyah, pointed out that the preparation for planting pistachio trees begins with digging the ground in the form of holes, separated from each other by 6 to 8 meters, for the passage of agricultural mechanisms and the penetration of wind, which contributes to the pollination process and the exposure of trees and their branches to sunlight well, pointing out that The plants, whose ages vary between 3 and 4 years, are chosen and irrigated immediately after planting by drip irrigation or the usual method of filling the pits. As for the trees planted in rain-fed lands, they are watered once every two years according to rainfall and fertilizers are added in appropriate quantities.
Al-Hamwi indicated that fruiting starts from the age of 10 years and reaches beyond the age of 100 years, as the pistachio tree is a perennial tree and the date of harvest takes place in the middle of August until the end of September.
Abdullah Al-Sheikh-Mohieddin Fahd