Average production expected for olive crops in Syria’s Kobani
KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – As the olive harvest season begins in Kobani, northern Syria, farmers expect a decrease in production this year due to delayed rainfall and the decline in interest in spraying pesticides and fertilizers due to high prices.
Olive farmers in Kobani criticize the lack of support from the Agriculture Directorate of the Autonomous Administration in securing fertilizers and pesticides at reasonable prices, and not allowing farmers to export their produce outside Autonomous Administration areas this year.
The Autonomous Administration decided, last week, to stop exporting olives outside its areas of control, following the noticeable increase in their prices recently.
Declining interest
Muhammad Sheikh Muslim, who owns about a thousand olive trees along with his brothers, said that the current season’s production would be average due to the decline in interest in olive cultivation after the increase in expenses and the absence of support.
Muslim plows the land and trims the trees annually, without spraying them with pesticides or using fertilizers because of the lack of quality varieties and their high prices.
Olive farmers believe that it is the duty of the Autonomous Administration and organizations operating in the region to work to secure fertilizers and pesticides that are sold in Syrian pounds.
Khalil Sheikho, a farmer from Kobani, said that the spread of insects among olive trees last summer and the lack of good quality pesticides has negatively affected production.
He noted that the failure to synchronize pest control work leads to the insect moving back to trees that were sprayed with pesticides a short time ago.
The price of an oil tin in the city of Kobani ranges this year, between 60,000 and 65,000 Syrian pounds (SYP), or about $25, while a kilogram of green olives is currently sold at about 900 SYP.
Farmers in Kobani consider these prices to be cheap in relation to the markets of neighboring countries; an olive oil tin in Kurdistan Region of Iraq costs between 80 and 90 dollars.
Wages doubled
Sheikho noted that production costs, such as the cost of pressing the olives and workers’ wages, have more than doubled, as the cost for squeezing one ton of olives last year cost 19,000 SYP, while it increased this year to 65,000 SYP, or 9 percent of oil production.
The price of picking one kilogram of olives increased from 50 SYP to 60 SYP, and sometimes 80 SYP, in addition to the price of the empty tin at more than 3,000 SYP.
Muhammad Khan, who works with his family in olive harvesting in Kobani countryside, believed that the worker’s wage should not be less than 150 SYP, because the prices of all materials have tripled.
Three presses
Hanafi Shaheen, who owns a press in the countryside of Kobani, said that the price set for olive pressing this year is inappropriate because they buy the spare parts in US dollars.
He pointed out that the wages of press workers increased from 3,000 SYP to 8,000 SYP per day for each worker.
The olive presses operate in Kobani for a period of two or two and a half months, usually from the beginning of November until the tenth of January.
There are only three olive presses operating in Kobani, one of which is in the village of Nordan. The second is in the village of Zarafik, and the third is near to the town of Sarrin, while some farmers transport their crops to Manbij, which has 22 presses.
Shaheen expects that his press will be crowded after about ten days, because most of the olives in Kobani are of the Khelkhali type, which ripen after the 20th of November.