Deir Ezzor - SANA
The return of government agricultural irrigation projects in Deir ez-Zor contributed to the revival of agricultural production in the province, where the agricultural sector was subjected to looting and systematic sabotage at the hands of terrorist gangs.
And with the return of the third and fifth sectors of government irrigation projects at the end of the year 2020 to work after their rehabilitation, and preparations to launch work on the seventh sector project, which will enter service during the next few days, the area of land that is planned to be cultivated for the next season has increased.
The Director of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Fouad Abdoun, explained in a statement to SANA reporter that Deir ez-Zor governorate is an agricultural governorate par excellence, and the agricultural sector, in both its plant and animal parts, constitutes the main source of income for citizens in it. One of the government team's top priorities is the rehabilitation of government irrigation projects.
Abdoun pointed out that the completion of the rehabilitation of government irrigation projects in the third and fifth sectors led to an increase in the area of agricultural lands involved in the production process, which reached about 45,000 hectares last season, to rise this season to 51,507 hectares, which are cultivated with all strategic crops, especially wheat. Cotton and barley, in addition to vegetables and yellow corn.
In turn, the Director of Operation and Maintenance in the Lower Euphrates Basin, Eng. Hussein Hamdan, indicated that government irrigation projects formed the main support for the return of production in the agricultural sector after the rehabilitation and maintenance of the irrigation projects in the third and fifth sectors in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, and they entered service at the end of the year 2020, indicating that the project The government irrigation of the third sector irrigates an area of 10,905 hectares.
While the fifth sector irrigates an area of 3,565 hectares, the rehabilitation work of the seventh sector in Albu Kamal, which irrigate an area of 7,582 hectares, has reached its end, and it will enter service within the next few days.
For his part, the head of the Peasants Union in Deir Ezzor, Khazan al-Sahoo, explained that the return of government irrigation projects contributed to securing water for agricultural lands that were cultivated, especially with the strategic wheat and cotton crops, and reduced irrigation costs compared to the cost of irrigation in cooperative and private projects, which contributed to encouraging farmers to Increasing the area of cultivated land and increasing production.
And a member of the executive office of the Peasants Union in Deir Ezzor, Muhammad Al-Asheq, stated that the return of government agricultural irrigation projects to work, which provides irrigation water for large areas of land, is the most important part of the requirements of the productive process, as these projects contributed to the return and stability of farmers in their villages and lands.
A number of farmers, including Ishaq Al-Hajj and Ghanem Sweidan from the countryside of the governorate, indicated the importance of completing irrigation projects, which encourage them to return to invest their lands and cultivate them with strategic crops such as wheat, and contributed to the stability of their work and ensuring high productivity, pointing out that the irrigation costs were high due to their dependence on fuel, which hindered the expansion of agriculture Meanwhile, with the completion of irrigation projects, the situation has been reflected in the increase of their cultivated areas and the introduction of new crops such as corn and vegetables.
Ibrahim Daly
SANA Economic Bulletin
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