Authorities destroy acres of crops in Syria’s Aleppo to curb cholera
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – On Tuesday, Directorate of Agriculture in the city of Aleppo, north Syria, destroyed about 165 acres of lands cultivated with leafy vegetables, which are irrigated with sewage water from Queiq River in the southern and eastern countryside.
An exclusive source from the directorate told North Press after reporting cholera infections due to irrigating lands from the river, the directorate has started destroying crops in the areas of al-Nayrab, Sheikh Saeed, and Khan Tuman.
The source pointed out that the destruction took place through plowing the lands, preventing farmers from benefiting from them later or using these lands, in which cultivation is “prohibited,” to reduce cholera outbreak.
The leafy vegetables are parsley, radish, mint, watercress, and lettuce, and they can be eaten raw.
In addition to mallow leaves that are watered from the Queiq River in which sewage flows, after it had dried up during crisis years, according to the source.
On September 11, a source from Water Foundation told North Press that checks of samples taken from the sewage water in the southeastern countryside of Aleppo, where farmers irrigate leafy vegetables, showed positive results for cholera.
On September 12, Media office of the Syrian Ministry of Health announced that cholera infections have come up to 26 confirmed cases.
The new infections were recorded as follows: 20 in Aleppo, four in Latakia and two in Damascus coming from Aleppo.
The Ministry indicated that there are only two deaths in Aleppo “due to delay in seeking medical advice and having chronic diseases.”
A medical source from al-Razi Hospital in Aleppo revealed to North Press that a new death from cholera had been recorded for a five-year-old child from the southern countryside of Aleppo.
The total toll of cholera deaths reached three and dozens of infections.