The SRTF-Supported Farmers Reap a Bountiful 70,750 MT of Wheat this Harvest Season in Northeast Syria

Northeast Syria –Monday, 4 July 2022 –The SRTF is proud to announce an extraordinary harvest season this year that comes as a result of the SRTF continuous and comprehensive support to the agricultural sector in Northeast Syria (NES) through funding six interventions for four consecutive years to support and empower a number of coops at a time.

This season, 37 SRTF-supported cooperatives with around 73,600 farmhands successfully planted around 18,320 hectares of irrigated land which resulted in over 70,000 MT of wheat harvested in targeted communities in two governorates in NES namely, Ar-Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor.  The average yields of wheat this year came at an impressive 3.86 MT/HA with around 3% increase from last year’s 3.75 MT/HA yields. The estimated market value for the wheat harvested this year came at 37 million USD.

The (30) supported cooperatives in Ar-Raqqa reported harvesting over 16,750 hectares of irrigated land and as a result the production of over 65,300 MT of wheat this year. While the seven supported cooperatives in Deir ez-Zor reported harvesting over 1,570 hectares of irrigated land and a total production of around 5,500 MT of wheat this season.

In addition to the wheat production, several coops, who had already received the mechanization centers and their services, were able to increase their fleet of equipment and purchased additional equipment that is grinding the hay at the time of harvest. This is providing them with second product to sell for around 280 USD/MT.

The SRTF funding has provided comprehensive agricultural support that allowed for modern farming equipment, tractors, harvesters to be accessible to these coops which led to the improvement in overall agricultural operations and contributed to a decrease in cultivation and harvesting costs. Additionally, the provision of high-quality Syrian varieties of wheat seeds incentivized beneficiaries to return to farming, increased the overall area of lands cultivated and improved the food security.

In a statement from Hasan, a farmer beneficiary, he said, "Since the beginning of the SRTF’s agricultural support to us in 2018, our circumstances are constantly evolving and improving, with every year bringing better results than the year before it. In general, our wheat production is excellent this year. The average wheat production is around 4 MT/HA. Without the SRTF’s support, most farmers would have just sold their lands and emigrated." 

The SRTF’s Director General, Eng. Hani Khabbaz expressed great pride in this year’s harvest results and said “It is with great pride and pleasure that we witness yet another bountiful harvest season this year that comes as a result of dedication and hard work by Syrian farmers and their families. After four years of hard work and commitment to rehabilitate and recover the agriculture sector under the stabilization programme, the SRTF’s work is steadily on its way to improving food security and economic stability in Northeast Syria”.

For further information on the SRTF, please visit:

http://www.srtfund.org 

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