This was considered a secondary wealth to its treasury before the country was afflicted by war, poverty, loss of security, droughts and desertification that removed thousands of hectares of agricultural investment from the circle of agricultural investment. The war caused the emigration of farmers and the suspension of some cotton gins, spinning and weaving factories, and various cotton products from work, and unemployment of workers after the destruction of their infrastructure and the migration of industrialists out of the country.
In the production of its white gold, Syria relies on its agricultural basket in the eastern and northern governorates, such as Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa and the Syrian Jazeera, which has the ingredients for agriculture..
Deir ez-Zor governorate, according to Zuhair Jadaan, a farmer in his thirties from the town of Bu Hassan in the Deir ez-Zor countryside, is characterized by wide productive potentials for cultivating Syria’s white oil due to the availability of large areas for cultivation, and the Euphrates River passing through it for irrigation.
But targeting the province, as Jadaan explained in his interview with Sky News Arabia, for terrorist operations carried out by the sleeper cells of ISIS, in addition to the Turkish state preventing the flow of Euphrates water from time to time, led to a decline in the cotton seasons.
He added, “There are great difficulties faced by farmers in the province, from the collapse of the Syrian currency to the difficulty of marketing, ISIS threats to farmers, and drought…All these conditions combined put the future of white gold in danger.”“.
Selling for dilapidated lira
Limiting the purchase of agricultural crops, including cotton, raises the discontent of farmers in most of the Syrian governorates, considering that they buy their agricultural requirements in foreign currency and sales to government institutions are in the dilapidated Syrian pound, as indicated by agricultural engineer Ali Ghlais from the city of Raqqa.
In his speech to Sky News Arabia, he added: “Farmers buy fertilizers, seeds and pesticides in dollars, while government institutions and others affiliated with the Autonomous Administration determine the purchase prices of crops in Syrian pounds, which fluctuate between ups and downs, and in the face of these heavy losses, farmers are forced to emigrate their lands and search for new ways to live.”“.
The Governmental Economic Committee raised the price of a kilo of cotton for the current year to 2,500 Syrian pounds (the dollar at 3,600 Syrian pounds), and it had set its pricing last March at 1,500 Syrian pounds, and this will not compensate the farmers for their loss, according to Jadaan, saying: “The Syrian government and the Autonomous Administration should set the price in dollars. To make up for our loss“.
From export to import
Before its crisis in 2011, Syria occupied world advanced ranks in the production and export of cotton, but after the crisis, it announced for the first time in its history that it would import the material to keep its factories operating.!
A few days ago, the government’s economic committee allowed the public sector and industrialists to import cotton threads and ginned cotton as an emergency solution after the wheat crop seasons left the self-sufficiency plan after the droughts that the country witnessed this year and the import of wheat from Russia, followed by a similar decision to import cotton and thus Syria moved from an exporting and producing country for cotton to importer.
Dr. Zuhair Shammas, a specialist in economic affairs, stated that Syria had ranked second in the world in the textile production market for organic cotton before 2011, as it contributed significantly to global production.
And Shammas, in his interview with Sky News Arabia, said: “65% of the Syrian textile exports before the crisis went to Western European countries.“. Adding: “In 2010, the cotton stock reached 15 billion Syrian pounds, and it constituted 62% of the total stock of textile industries, 66% of the total stock of textile industrial products for the public sector.”.“
He added that the damage caused to factories, factories and cotton gins, and the division of the provinces from the center of the capital, Damascus, after the dismemberment of the country by terrorist organizations, including ISIS and its control of a number of Syrian agricultural cities, led to a complete collapse of the country’s economy.
Shammas noted that ISIS-affiliated cells are still threatening farmers and forcing them to pay royalties to them. In addition, they kidnap trucks loaded with shipments of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides entering Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, Hama countryside, Sweida, and Al-Jazirah governorate. In addition to this, field executions are sometimes carried out against traders, farmers and employees of institutions The agricultural sector is thus causing panic and panic among farmers who dispense with their livelihoods and agriculture and flee to safer areas, fearing for their lives, leaving their fields that are threatened by desertification and drought.“.
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