Baladi News – Hama Countryside (Shahoud Jadou)
Many farmers abandoned their lands in Hama countryside due to several difficulties, which could have bad consequences, especially that grain crops, particularly wheat, are indispensable in the liberated areas as a whole. Baladi News camera visited farms in Hama countryside and met with several farmers and experts to examine the difficulties in the agriculture sector.
Director of the General Establishment of Seeds in Hama, agricultural engineer Tamam al-Hussein, said, "This year, wheat crops were infected with many pests, including voles, suni bugs and locusts. Moreover, annual precipitation in the area dropped significantly to 185 mm compared to 300 mm last year."
He also added that "The most important reason why farmers abstained from growing wheat is the difficulty of marketing due to low selling prices to farming costs of the crops. The selling price of wheat in the market is $ 220 per ton, meanwhile other crops, such as cumin, anise, coriander, and black caraway are sold for $ 1000-2400 per ton, which is a high price compared to the farming costs."
Farmer Maen Al-rajab said that he changed to growing cumin this year because he sustained heavy financial losses due to difficult selling of wheat crops. He said, "I sold the cumin crops for $ 1700 per ton this year without sustaining the costs of transportation, packaging, and sieving".
Apart from the difficulties in marketing, Hamah farmers are concerned that the spread of pests would annihilate their crops, which could cause a disaster in the area.