Homs-Sana
The olive presses in Homs Governorate continue the process of pressing the crop, with strict measures taken to adhere to work instructions.
During a tour by SANA’s economic correspondent on the Talbiseh automatic mill between farmer Ibrahim Rami, who comes from Al-Rastan, to press his olive harvest, the production this year was average compared to previous years, and the oil production rate is medium and varies according to the type of olives and the time of pressing.
Abdel-Gawad Al-Masry, owner of the automatic Talbeesah mill, pointed out that the current season represents 50 percent of the production of previous years, while the percentage of oil production is higher due to the low tree load, indicating that the mill consists of one line with a production capacity of 25 tons per day and work continues until the end of the existing quantities of olives .
For his part, Eng. Naji Saed, head of the specialized trees department in the Directorate of Agriculture in Homs, explained that the production of the olive season in general is light to medium this year as a result of the weather conditions that prevailed during the flowering period and the decade, which led to a large drop of flowers and also led to the fall of small fruits, stressing that olives As the quality of this year is good and the proportions of the oil are medium.
Saed pointed out that there are 67 olive mills in the governorate, of which 50 are operating, and there are currently licenses for new mills, pointing out that the prices of the times set by the Executive Office after studying the labor costs of workers’ wages and fuel costs of maintaining machines and others amount to 140 pounds per kilo of fruits.
The engineer, Lama Qassis, head of the Press Committee in the governorate, pointed out that the committee is made up of members of the Directorate of Agriculture, Environment, Industry and Supply, and the Directorate of Water Resources, and its mission is to carry out tours of the mills, monitor the extent of commitment to pricing, adhere to the procedures of the era, and dispose of its waste in safe ways, noting that the committee deals with all complaints submitted to it as a rule.
The area planted with olives in Homs is more than 96 thousand hectares, of which 85 percent are rainfed, and the number of trees reaches 16 million trees, including 14 million fruit trees.
Saba Khairbek
SANA Economic Bulletin
