Damascus countryside-SANA
The participants in the twelfth conference of the Syndicate of Veterinarians in Syria, which was held today in the Sahara Complex in Damascus countryside, called for supporting livestock breeders, increasing production grants for rural families and fodder crops, securing improved seeds and mechanisms for modern mechanization, importing and selling the groats to breeders in installments.
In their interventions during the sessions, the conference participants stressed the importance of increasing the areas of fish farming and beehives in the governorates, circulating quality awareness awareness programs, developing the veterinary vaccine industry, activating the role of the veterinarian as a partner in food safety control committees, organizing slaughterhouses, creating a specialized research center in the veterinary sector, and increasing the nature of work for veterinarians.
The demands of the participants included the opening of a veterinary secondary school in the liberated areas of Raqqa governorate, the establishment of a laboratory for the production of veterinary medicines, the exemption of imported fodder and agricultural materials from customs duties, an increase in the value of the union’s label, and the securing of production and feed requirements, leading to a decrease in meat prices.
He also called on the heads of the syndicate's branches to develop the national plan to combat brucellosis, to strengthen supervision over the practice of veterinarians in their profession, and to prevent infringements on it.
During the meetings of the Central Council of the Syndicate, the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Engineer Mohamed Hassan Qatana, explained that the government continues to secure the requirements of the agricultural sector and provide its requirements, indicating the importance of discussion during the meetings to achieve integration in the work of veterinarians and agricultural engineers and to address the difficulties and problems they face.
The minister pointed out that there are proposals and scientific research to develop livestock, address their problems, produce vaccines and veterinary medicines, increase their growth and production rates, and provide feed and production requirements, explaining that producers suffer from high production costs and the difficulty of securing supplies of feed and fuel.
A member of the central leadership of the Arab Socialist Baath Party, head of the Workers and Peasants’ Bureau, Muhammad Shaban Azzouz, stressed the importance of developing cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and the relevant unions to advance the agricultural sector, develop and preserve livestock, and provide animal products at reasonable prices for citizens, pointing to the negative economic repercussions and the difficult circumstances caused by the terrorist war on Syrian.
For his part, the head of the Syndicate of Veterinarians, Dr. Iyad Al-Suwaidan, pointed out that the Central Council discussed all the organizational, professional and financial aspects of the Syndicate and matters related to the retirement treasury, its investment projects, future plans, organizing the profession in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and raising the efficiency of the veterinarian through training courses and scientific activities.
The recommendations and proposals of the Central Council, according to Suwaidan, included “creating a public authority for livestock affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture and raising the nature of work and compensation for veterinarians,” revealing that the number of veterinarians is about 4,500 doctors spread in all governorates, but this number does not cover all places of livestock distribution.