Homs-Sana
Chestnut harvesting has begun at the Dahr al-Qusair forest site, west of Homs, and production estimates, according to the Homs Agriculture Directorate, are about five and a half tons.
Engineer Faraj al-Mahmoud, head of the forestry department in the directorate, revealed to the SANA economic bulletin that the production of the current season has decreased compared to last year by about four tons as a result of climatic conditions and the exposure of a large part of the trees to infection with a fungal disease, which led to a decrease in the amount of production, pointing out that the Dahr El-Qusair forestry site also includes natural and artificial forests from Cypress, pine, cedar and other trees on an area of 1500 hectares.
And about the reality of chestnut production, between Al-Mahmoud, that the fruits are sold through public auctions, which gives the site economic importance, with the presence of 400,000 chestnut trees and can achieve material rent through selling the fruits in addition to their great nutritional value, especially in the winter, stressing the role of forestry elements in preserving Dahr El-Qusair site, preventing encroachments on trees, removing broken and damaged branches, and protecting them from fires.
Al-Mahmoud pointed out that chestnut trees were exposed to a contagious fungal disease, which damaged nearly 200 thousand trees out of the total number of trees, through a tour conducted by a technical committee from the Forestry Department to see the extent of the infection and ways to treat it, pointing out that biological control can stop the spread of the disease in case It was in its infancy, however, the trees that were completely exposed to dryness must be cut down and moved outside the site to prevent the spread of infection, pointing out that the treatment of the problem will be through spreading new seeds that are resistant to diseases and planting various forest plants instead of infected trees to preserve the site as a forest and environment.
It is noteworthy that the Dahr al-Qusayr forestry site, which is located about 60 km west of Homs, gains its importance because it contains chestnut trees and other forestry trees that achieve economic and nutritional benefit at the same time.
Abdul Hamid Junaidy
SANA Economic Bulletin
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