By Fattah Issa
KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – Muhammad Muhammad Ali, 56, a farmer from the village of Tel Ghazal south of Kobani, northern Syria, wanders around pistachio trees he planted three years ago, hoping for a good yield when they enter production phase.
The decision to cultivate pistachio trees came after a previous experience with olive trees, whose production has started recently.
Over the years, Kobani farmers have diversified their crops by cultivating fruit trees and summer vegetables, moving away from the traditional focus on wheat and barley crops that historically dominated Kobani farmlands.
Muhammad Ali told North Press that the yield of olive trees on his land has consistently improved year after year. This has motivated him to expand the area of olive trees, as he seeks greater returns compared to the traditional wheat and barley crops commonly cultivated in the region.
He noted that olives and pistachios are sold in foreign currency (USD), and that the yield from cultivating one hectare of land with these trees is equivalent to the production of five seasons of wheat and barley cultivation.
For the 2023/2024 season, the total irrigated land area in Kobani exceeds 67,800 hectares, while rain-fed lands account for approximately 130,000 hectares.
The area of land cultivated with trees is approximately 17,400 hectares, including around 8,500 hectares cultivated with olive trees, 8,200 hectares with pistachio trees, and 700 hectares with various types of fruits.
Good yield
Muhammad Ali’s olive land has yielded 25 tins (16 kg) of olive oil. He sold each tin for $82.
Muslim Ali, another farmer from the countryside of Kobani, has cultivated seven hectares of his rain-fed land with olive trees and four hectares with pistachio trees. In addition, he has designated one irrigated hectare for growing vegetables.
He obtained a yield of approximately $350 from cultivating two dunams (0.2 hectares) of green pepper, which takes three months of work.
Ali said that cultivating vegetables is more profitable than traditional crops like wheat, barley, and cotton. However, the main obstacle to large-scale cultivation of vegetables is the fuel shortage.
If the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) increases fuel allocations for irrigation, it could achieve self-sufficiency in its regions and enable the export of crops during abundant seasons, Ali said.
Farmer Othman Shahin compares the returns of cultivating a five-dunam area of barley, which yields approximately $100, with cultivating the same area with summer vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, which can earn him around $1000.
Shahin observed that despite the delayed production of vegetables, pistachios, and olives by five or six years, most farmers who have access to irrigation water choose to cultivate these crops due to their lucrative yields.
In addition to trees and vegetables, some farmers in the countryside of Kobani turn to cultivating sesame and corn, considering them also profitable crops.
Encouragement for diversity
The Agriculture and Irrigation Board of the AANES encourages farmers to cultivate their lands with trees, as it improves the region’s climate, brings foreign currency (USD) into the area, and improves the farmers’ conditions.
The board’s agricultural plan for the 2023/2024 season allocates 60 percent of lands for wheat, five percent for barley, 15 percent for legumes, and two percent for winter vegetables.
The plan also allocates three percent for cultivating summer vegetables, 15 percent for cotton, and 20 percent for crops such as corn, sunflower, and sesame.
The areas cultivated with vegetables amounted to 2,600 hectares last summer.
Engineer Muhammad Khair Khalil, an official at Statistics Department at the Agriculture and Irrigation Board, said that the recent interest in cultivating summer vegetables has contributed to securing tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and peppers for the region’s markets.
Khalil believes that the interest in cultivating fruit trees and vegetables will not negatively impact the region’s production of wheat and barley because there are vast rain-fed and irrigated lands sufficient to cover all of these crops.
Furthermore, some areas cultivated with fruit trees are rugged and unsuitable for wheat and barley crops, according to Khalil.