Government’s strict measures destroy corn harvest in Syria’s Raqqa
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Corn farmers in the eastern countryside of Raqqa in northern Syria voiced on Tuesday their complaints about restrictions that have been recently imposed by the Syrian government forces on selling the harvest.
The Fourth Armored Division of the government forces have imposed huge sums of money as royalties on the farmers to be able to sell their corn harvest to the government-held areas.
The procedure led the price of yellow corn to plummet from 4,400 Syrian pounds (SYP) to 3,000 SYP.
The Fourth Division has checkpoints and posts on the crossings between areas held by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and those under the control of the Syrian government.
The farmers accused the Fourth Division of imposing high fees on them to permit the passage of corn trucks to the government-held areas, which badly affects the prices of the harvest.
Residents from the town of Sabkha, southeast of Raqqa, and nearby villages told North Press that they started selling their crop to livestock breeders due to the drastic measures imposed by the Division.
They revealed that the Fourth Division demanded 65 million SYP (about $4,200) per corn truck to let it cross to the government-held areas, adding that this directly contributed to the deterioration of their harvest.
Traders, in turn, refused to pay the amount, considering it excessively high.
Farmers said these complications were discouraging many of them from engaging in agricultural activities altogether.