Homs-Sana
Potato farmers in Homs continue to harvest the crop during the fall season, in light of marketing difficulties and a drop in prices, in addition to the high costs of the requirements of the cultivation process.
The Director of Homs Agriculture, Engineer Younes Hamdan, told SANA that production estimates amount to 14,720 tons of a total area of 979 hectares, distributed mainly in the villages of al-Qusayr, with an area of 742 hectares, and in the villages of the eastern center, with an area of 143 hectares, and the rest of the areas in the western center, al-Rastan and al-Makhram.
For his part, the Director of the Seed Multiplication Branch, Eng. Mahdi Youssef, stated that the institution is working to secure imported potato seeds that are guaranteed and guaranteed according to high production specifications, and at subsidized prices compared to market prices, indicating that 300 tons of imported potato seeds will be provided to farmers wishing to plant the spring harvest for the next season. While farmers secure fall harvest sowing of their spring harvest.
In turn, the director of the Syrian Trade Branch, Ahmed Shaaban, said: The Foundation is working continuously to support the marketing process directly from farmers for a number of main crops, indicating that no quantity of the autumn potato crop has been extracted from farmers to date.
A number of farmers spoke of a decrease in the prices of potatoes marketed to the al-Hal market, and they are currently packing the crop with burlap bags and storing it in warehouses, awaiting a rise in prices, in order to compensate for the costs of cultivation and production.
Hussam and Muhammad Zakaria, a farmer from the village of Naqira in the southern countryside of Homs, explained that they grow 25 dunums of autumn potatoes of the “Spunta” variety, and the production per dunum is estimated at 1.5 tons. The amount of production is medium due to the lack of water, which is directly related to the availability of fuel, in addition to the costs The high prices, which have increased significantly due to the high cost of fertilizers, transportation and labor costs, pointing to the high cost of solar energy equipment that can reduce dependence on fuel.
Homs production of autumn potatoes during the previous season amounted to 16,246 tons out of a total cultivated area of 1,149 hectares.
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