Damascus-SANA
The head of the Damascus and Rural Farmers Union, Ziad Khaled, confirmed that the Prime Minister’s approval of the economic committee’s recommendation to allow the export of onions and garlic for a period of two months serves the agricultural process in general production and marketing and encourages farmers to continue the agricultural process and increase production by securing a price commensurate with the high production costs and achieve a financial return that improves his living.
In a statement to SANA, Khaled pointed to the need to continue the policy of exporting agricultural crops, especially during the peak production, pointing out that farmers sell onions and garlic at low prices in the production land and in a way that is not commensurate with the costs of cultivation and with a large surplus of it, especially in the areas of Damascus countryside.
He considered that the government intervention by allowing the export of both garlic and onions raises their prices and restores stability to local markets, and the concerned authorities should overcome the difficulties facing the export process, especially the high shipping costs and obstacles within the border crossings of neighboring countries.
A number of Al-Hal market traders spoke about the presence of large quantities of garlic and onions at low prices, as the price of a kilo of garlic recorded between 200 and 600 pounds in wholesale according to its type, and a kilo of onions about 300 pounds in wholesale, pointing out that according to the current prices popular in the market, the farmer is a loser because the selling price is not It covers the wages of harvesting the two materials and shipping them to the market, and other traders ruled out the increase in the price of garlic and onions in the market despite the issuance of a decision to allow the export of the two materials as a result of abundant production in all governorates and the difficulties of marketing abroad.
Head of the Marketing Office of the General Union of Farmers, Ahmed Helal, explained that the Union is working diligently to assist farmers in marketing their agricultural production at reasonable prices that ensure that they are not exposed to losses and protect them from the monopoly of traders and brokers, especially when there is a surplus in production.
He said that the union is working on implementing a special strategy to support the marketing process by activating the work of its marketing associations and providing financial funding that contributes to activating the process of intra-trade among them, as the governorate’s produced products are marketed to the consuming provinces through those associations away from the mindset of the merchant. Sales outlets and storage places in marketing associations in all governorates.
Hilal added that the Economic Committee's decision to open the door for export serves the farmer and compensates for part of the losses he is exposed to as a result of high labor costs and low marketing prices in the local market. The need of the local market and this led to a decrease in selling prices and caused great losses to farmers.
For his part, the engineer Omar Al-Shalit, the agricultural expert and former head of the Damascus Chamber of Agriculture, pointed out the importance of working to obtain quality and quality certificates granted by specialized European companies, which open the way for Syrian products to enter foreign markets, in addition to developing the sorting and cooling process to ensure that the quality of the agricultural product is preserved far from Randomness and ignorance in the sorting and storage process prevailing and in proportion to the consumer habits in each country.
Al-Shalt indicated that there are obstacles to the export process, most notably the prevailing work mechanism in the agricultural sector, which negatively affects the nature of the exported production. concerned.
Amjad Sabbagh
SANA Economic Bulletin
Follow Sana's news on Telegram https://t.me/SyrianArabNewsAgency