Wheat production in 2022 reaches self- sufficiency in Syria’s Raqqa
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Wheat production in the city of Raqqa and its countryside reaches self-sufficiency in 2022, an official in the city of Raqqa, north Syria, said on Monday.
The quantity of wheat delivered until Sunday reached 115.500 tons, according to Agricultural Society Development Company in Raqqa.
Ahmad al-Ali, co-chair of Agricultural Community Development Company, said that the handed over quantities of wheat to the company’s centers exceed needs of mills in Raqqa and its countryside.
The mills need between 90.000 and 95.000 tons of wheat, in addition to the amount of seeds that will be distributed to farmers in preparation for the next season, according to al-Ali.
He told North Press that the company had decided to stop receiving wheat on July 25, but the Executive Council in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) issued a decision to extend the process until the end of the current month.
He pointed out that wheat production of the current season is good compared to the last year’s season.
On July 23, the AANES issued a circular, setting the end of July as a deadline for receiving wheat in all its centers in northeastern Syria.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS militarily.
The circular stressed that merchants have to ship the wheat to approved purchasing centers, and that any failure to do so would expose its doer to legal accountability, in accordance with the laws of the AANES.
The AANES has set the price of wheat at 2.200 Syrian pounds (SYP, more than ¢500), taking into account the quality of wheat.