Rif Dimashq-SANA
The farmers of the town of Al-Dimas in the governorate of Damascus countryside are looking forward to harvesting the crops of their fruit trees spread over an area of an estimated 18,000 dunums, which vary between apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, pears, walnuts, shami berries and olives, hoping that the crop will meet the aspirations they set.
The difficult conditions and the high cost of supplies did not prevent the farmers who spread out in their fields with their women and children from following up their trees, taking care of them, spraying them, watering them and weeding them in preparation for the start of harvesting crops that start with apricots and cherries, then peaches, apples and finally olives, which are among their main seasons and spread over an area of up to 8 thousand acres.
The farmer, Muhammad Abdullah, told SANA reporter: “I work with all family members, some of them spray pesticides and others follow the watering, while the children share their grandmother’s picking cherry trees near the house,” noting that he has a hundred dunums wooded with various types of trees whose production has been affected this year by weather conditions such as frost, in addition to Not having enough fuel to pump water.
Naima Hamza Abdullah has a love and affection relationship with the trees that she took care of as a young child until she grew up and bore fruit. She said: She cannot leave the land, no matter the circumstances, because the tree lives in her heart and is the source of her livelihood with her family, hoping to provide more support to farmers.
The seventy Muhyi al-Din Muhammad al-Masri is considered one of the oldest farmers in the region. He spent more than 45 years farming and working on his 50 dunums of land, where he and his family members began to settle, prepare, plant and divide it into parts and plant 3,000 trees ranging from apples, apricots, garnets, cherries and peaches.
According to Al-Masry, the harvest begins with garn, then cherries, and then apricots, pears and apples, pointing out that the seasons continue until the end of the year, and he said: “His trees are like the blood that runs in his veins.
The head of the Agricultural Association in Al-Dimas, Ahmed Hussein Nurs, indicated that the total area planted with fruit trees is estimated at 18,000 dunams planted with various types of fruit trees, including 8,000 dunams planted with olives, and there are about 10,000 dunums ready for planting, pointing out that 75 percent of the population depends on agriculture, but it is difficult Obtaining diesel, power cuts, and the high cost of transporting products cause losses to the farmer.
Qures expressed his hope that the concerned authorities would help the farmers and provide larger quantities of diesel and give them loans to install solar energy to pump water, as many of them are unable to do so, pointing out that the Directorate of Agriculture and the Guidance Unit were requested to help deliver the farmers' proposals to obtain the loan, expecting that production will be For some seasons less than last season due to the frost that hit the crop during last March.
The representative of the General Federation of Farmers in Dimas, Ahmed Youssef Al-Batrowani, stated that the General Union is constantly seeking to provide support to farmers according to the available capabilities and provide them with quantities of diesel and fertilizers and is working to help them obtain loans for alternative energy.
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