Homs-Sana
Engineer Muhammad Hassan Qatana, Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, was briefed today on the reality of agricultural projects implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the World “FAO” in cooperation with the Ministry in the northern countryside of Homs and their reflection on improving the agricultural situation in this region.
The Minister of Agriculture confirmed in a press statement that the aim of the tour is to evaluate existing projects and the extent to which farmers benefit from them, and to investigate projects that can be included in FAO's programs to enable the local community to benefit from new projects with the aim of developing agricultural work.
Minister Qatana indicated that after paying attention to plant production projects, the focus in the next phase will be on livestock projects, developing agricultural mechanization, finding modern irrigation methods and applying modern technologies in generating electricity, pointing out that there are 30 production units for food industries at the level of Syria and 16 markets to market them distributed in all governorates .
The engineer, Bassam Parsik, Governor of Homs pointed out that he was briefed on the agricultural projects implemented and funded by FAO and how to develop cooperation in the agricultural field, both plant and animal.
In turn, the Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization “FAO” Abdel Hakim Al-Waer stressed the importance of continuing and expanding cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture to benefit the largest number of farmers with the aim of returning farmers to their lands and reviving them again in order to achieve food security.
In addition, the Minister of Agriculture was briefed on the “Nabata” program project implemented by Sanad Foundation in cooperation with the Directorates of Agriculture and Water Resources and FAO in the Rastan and Talbiseh regions, and the project to rehabilitate sub-channels in the Homs Hama irrigation network and wheat fields funded by FAO in Talbiseh, and a project for seedling production in the village of Mukhtaria .
The Director of Agriculture, Engineer Younis Hamdan, confirmed that the grants provided during the past year of wheat seed benefited 1,500 farmers, at a rate of 200 kg of wheat for each beneficiary, in addition to 150 beneficiaries of the seedling grant in ten villages and 5 farms for chopping the remains of green and land crops to produce compost, except for projects to support wealth animal.
Engineer Ismail Ismail, director of water resources in the governorate, explained that in cooperation with FAO, the sub-channels in the Homs-Hama irrigation network “Homs Department” in the Talbiseh area have been rehabilitated, which irrigates about 11,000 hectares of agricultural land and benefits 20,000 agricultural families.
Engineer Samer Aswad, director of the “Nabta” program at the Sanad Developmental Foundation, confirmed that this program is the first implemented by the Foundation with the FAO in Syria and is concerned with agricultural entrepreneurship, as 34 projects were funded from the projects presented, including the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants of all kinds and projects for drying fruits.
Farmer Hesham Farzat, one of the beneficiaries of the program in the cultivation of aromatic plants, and Helen Mansour, a beneficiary in the manufacture of dried fruits, talked about the importance of the grant provided by FAO in expanding their work horizons, calling for the need to find markets for the disposal of agricultural products.
At the end of the tour, the Minister of Agriculture, during a meeting held in the governorate building with stakeholders and experts of the FAO, reviewed the rural development map in the governorate and the needs of the next phase of projects that help farmers to continue agricultural work.
Abdul Hamid Junaidy
Follow Sana's news on Telegram https://t.me/SyrianArabNewsAgency
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
