Lattakia and Tartous - SANA
535 greenhouses were damaged with varying degrees of damage in the governorates of Lattakia and Tartous due to the prevailing weather conditions in the coastal region, including strong winds, sea dragons, frost and heavy rain.
Basem Doba, director of agriculture in Lattakia, said in a statement to SANA reporter that statistics and preliminary estimates indicate that about 185 greenhouses were damaged in the countryside of Jableh, planted with zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant and cucumbers, in addition to areas of tunnels planted with zucchini, within the scope of the work of the extension units in the villages of Siano, Douir, Baabda, Ashrafieh and Rahbeya. Al-Burjan, Al-Qutaybiyah, Dower Al-Khatib, Al-Sakhbah, Al-Sharsheer, and Hmeimim in the Jableh countryside.
In the Lattakia region, Doba indicated that 10 greenhouses were damaged within the scope of the work of the extension unit in the village of Mashkita, planted with zucchini, cucumbers and eggplant, and in the Al-Haffah region, two plastic houses planted with tomatoes in the villages of Al-Samiya and Khirbet Haishout were damaged, with the crop damage rate reaching 50 percent.
With regard to citrus fruits, Doba stated that the Abu Surra variety fell by 10 percent and the Yafawi variety by 15 percent as a result of heavy rains within the scope of the guidance work of the villages of Samiya and Tarjano.. In the Qardaha area, the crop was damaged within the scope of the work of the extensions of the villages of Bani Issa, Ain Al-Arous and Ruwaisat Al-Basatneh With a percentage ranging between 20 and 45 percent, distributed among the varieties “Valencia Yafawi and Abu Surra”.
In Tartous Governorate, the marine dragon that struck the governorate last night caused great damage to protected crops and greenhouses, and the damage ranged between partial and complete.
Head of the Drought and Natural Disasters Fund in Tartous Agriculture Directorate, Engineer Haider Shaheen, said in a statement to SANA reporter that the number of damaged greenhouses has reached /350/ so far, knowing that the processes of inventorying the damage are still ongoing, explaining that they were distributed.. In Baniyas, about 200 greenhouses, the majority of which are planted With tomatoes.. In the Tartous region, there are about 150 houses in the villages of Al-Dukika, Bani Naim and Al-Juwaymisah, which are planted with black eggplant and peppers, and a number of houses planted with tomatoes in the village of Al-Kharaba.
Engineer George Maqbari, Head of the Extension Unit in the Al-Khrab area, indicated that the initial statistics of damages in the Al-Wahda sector indicate the damage of about 120 plastic tunnels distributed among about 45 farmers, stressing that the damages are large and range from 30 to 100 percent, noting that Most of the damaged greenhouses were in the production stage.
Maqbari pointed out that the technicians and engineers specialized in the extension unit have started since the morning the operations of counting the damage to be submitted to the disaster fund, pointing out that if the conditions are met, they will be compensated based on requests submitted by the affected farmers.
Aziz Hammouda, Head of the Natural Disasters Division in the Baniyas Agriculture Department, indicated that the majority of the damaged houses are planted with tomatoes in the villages of Al-Rawda, Al-Fayhaa, Al-Maqbariya, and in the village of Sahem Al-Bahr, explaining that they will be compensated according to the criteria of the Fund, which is that the percentage of damage at the level of the village is /1/percent, where it will be Directing farmers to submit requests within a maximum period of /25/ days.
For their part, a number of farmers called on the concerned authorities to expedite the processes of inventorying damages and compensation so that they can return their protected houses to the production cycle, stressing that the damage is great and that most of the houses are planted by borrowing from agricultural pharmacies with debt until the end of the season, which no longer exists after the damage of their crops.
The country is affected by an atmospheric depression attached to a very cold and humid polar air mass and winds exceeding 60 km per hour, especially in the southern and desert regions, while the sea is high to medium wave height.