As soon as the wheat and barley ears dried and gained its golden color, farmers in Daraa countryside hurried to harvest them fearing they would be intentionally burnt by the regime as it has done in previous years or that a rocket or a spark would reach them and a year’s work would go to waste.
“The harvest time has not arrived yet, but the farmers have become accustomed to harvesting their crops early for more than six years after a large part of the fields were deliberately set on fires especially in areas close to the regime forces centers and areas,” said activist Abu Muhammad al-Hourani. He clarified that the regime forces burned large areas planted with crops in the outskirts of Khirbet Ghazala, Alma, and al-Gharyet al-Gharbiyah in the eastern countryside of Daraa in this season alone.
They also burned land planted with crops in the Shiah area in the southern countryside of Daraa, and in several other areas for the amount burned to exceed 5,000 acres. The regime forces burned the fields on the pretext fighters may hide in the fields, the crops obstruct the regime forces view and hinder monitoring opposition force movement in the areas.
Al-Hourani stressed that “The regime’s arguments and justifications are false. These practices are at the heart of the regime's systematic policy to exact revenge on the liberated areas, pressure farmers and work to impoverish them using any means possible and then blame the Free [Syrian] Army to create a conflict between the opposition forces and its popular base.”
Speaking to Eqtsad, Nazih Qaddah, an agricultural engineer and the assistant of the Minister of Agriculture in the Syrian Interim Government, commented about the plans for 2017 harvest. “The production of the wheat crop in Daraa province was not at the expected level due to the climatic conditions. There was high temperatures during the month of April and the lack of rainfall during this month when the wheat plants are in the white stage and need rain, which caused its failure,” he said.
Qaddah explained, “The competent institutions in free Daraa province which include the Provisional Council, the Grain Foundation, and the Coordinated Support Unit have taken all the necessary measures to market this year’s season of wheat.” He pointed out that these authorities have developed a marketing plan to compete with regime institutions’ prices. “They set the price of purchasing one ton of wheat at more than 275 US Dollars (USD), while the Seed Propagation Institution said it would buy one ton at 300 USD from its contractors,” he said.
Qaddah added that “The above mentioned institutions will distribute the hemp bags to farmers for free to encourage them to hand over their crops to the free Daraa institutions.” He explained that three centers will be opened in the liberated areas to market the crops.
Regarding the areas cultivated in the governorate, Qaddah said that around 300,000 acres were planted and that the authorities expect around 35,000 tons of wheat to be harvested.
He stressed the importance of farmers handing their crops over to the revolutionary institutions saying that “the wheat is entrusted to us all because it is the weapon the regime used to besiege our people in the Ghouta and deprive them of bread.”
“These lands were planted thanks to the blood of the martyrs that bled into it as they liberated it from the grip of tyrants. It is not right to strengthen the regime with our wheat,” Qaddah continued.
He said that “The revolutionary institutions are providing enhanced seeds each year at subsidized prices, offering hemp bags for free, and providing excellent flour at a subsidized rate that exceeds 30%.” Qaddah explained that “the revolutionary institutions bought wheat at 245 USD per ton, spent 90 USD to store, sterilize, transport and grind the wheat and then sold it for 225 USD per ton so at a loss of around 110 USD per ton to serve citizens.”
He appealed to farmers to support the revolutionary institutions in securing the subsidized flour and withdraw their support to the regime “which besieges us and kills us,” he said.
Speaking to Eqtsad Abu Obaba, 48, a farmer said, “I hurried to collect my harvest before the start of Ramadan because I do not have the financial liquidity in the month of Ramadan, which requires large sums of money to spend on food and drink.”
“I plant around 15 acres of barley, and want to sell the crop early before being consumed by unexpected fires,” he said and then explained about the harvesting process. “The harvesters have not moved on a wide scale in the western regions, and people began collecting their crops using manual labor,” he said commenting that it costs around 5,000 Syrian Lira (SL) to harvest one acre of wheat and barley.
“Workshops for manual harvesting began to appear in Daraa countryside consisting of unemployed young men,” he said. Every day hundreds of day laborers come out in workshop teams to harvest this year’s crops. For many harvesting the wheat and barley crop is a seasonal source of money livelihood, providing them and their families with reasonable amounts to help them purchase their essential needs.
One daily laborer is Samer, 22, a sociology student from Daraa al-Gharbi countryside. He explained that started working in harvesting this season at a workshop formed of around 15 young men. Most of those working with him are university students and former public employees. He stressed that he was forced to take on any work as he needs the money to pay for his studies and cover his personal expenses, especially since his family can no longer provide him with any assistance in the present circumstances.
He explained that “The workshop ensure the agricultural fields and harvest crops, and receives around 5,000 SL for every acre harvested.” Samer said that the workshop harvests around ten acres every day, and laborers earn more than 3,000 SL per day.
Fouad, 28, a former public employee, spoke about the work schedule explaining that before Ramadan they began work at three in the morning and then stopped around ten due to the rising temperatures. With the start of Ramadan, they start work after midnight and continue working until seven in the morning to enable them to fast.
