Low quality of bread in Kobani amid promises of improvement
Kobani – North-Press Agency
Fattah Issa/Jihad Nabo
Local citizens of Kobani in the north of Syria, complain about the low quality of bread produced by Kobani automatic bakery, which produced better quality bread in the previous times.
Saleh Bozi 35 years old local resident, told North-Press that the quality of bread was good some months ago, noting that they could even keep it at home for a couple of days, “as for now it cannot be kept for hours, because it crumbles quickly.”
Bozi stated that he is obliged to buy white bread despite the expensive price while compared with the automatic bakery bread “the white bread can be preserved at home for two or three days, while the normal bread must be consumed at the same day.”
One kilo of white bread costs about SYP 200, less than half a dollar, while two kilos of normal bread costs SYP 100, less than a quarter of a dollar.
Bozi called the authorities to activate censorship in order to control the quality of the flour and bread, as he wondered about the reasons for the low quality of bread in Kobani.
“We use it as feed for animals”
Idris Qader a bread seller in one of Kobani’s neighborhoods, said that he buys about 100 to 150 sacks of bread from the bakery every day, because “it crumbles after two hours, so we are obliged to use it as feed for animals.”
The daily production of the bakery of Kobani is about 30.000 sacks per day, it’s distributed in the city and the countryside through agents and local councils (communes).
The low quality of flour
Aziz Abdi, the manager of the automatic bakery of Kobani told North-Press that citizens’ complaints about the low quality of bread is right, pointing out that the reason relates to the low quality of flour which comes from the grinders.
The reservoir quantity of the wheat was not enough last year, the thing obliged the manager of the grinders to depend on the newly produced wheat that contains a high level of humidity, the thing may affect the quality of both flour and bread.
Abdi confirmed that the quality of the bread will be better within a week, explaining that the bakery administration started adding cold water to the main dough.
The new wheat
Khalil Sheikh Muslim, spokesman of Economic Committee in the Autonomous Administration in Kobani noted that there was no good production of wheat last year, which affected the stored quantities of wheat in granaries, pointing out that the administration of the grinderies started to grind this year’s wheat to send it to the bakeries.
Sheikh Muslim confirmed that the wheat harvested this year is assumed to be kept in the granary for three months in order to be dried completely and the reduction of humidity level in order to be used in the production of bread.
The Economic Committee distributes about 110 tons of flour on 14 bakeries every day in Kobani Canton, an administrative division includes Kobani and Sirrin, that is produced in the city grindery and the grindery in the village of Rovi, as about 35 tons of flour is delivered to the automatic bakery in the city.
The solution
Sheikh Muslim stated that the solution to improve the quality of the bread is to depend on mixing new wheat with the old one along with the use of both kinds of wheat in the flour of the bread by 75% of soft wheat and 25% of hard wheat to result in a good mixture of flour.
The Economy Board in Kobani city started rehabilitating and modernizing Kobani grindery in November 2018 with a cost of about $ 40.000 in order to improve the quality of flour and bread.
The automatic bakery in Kobani was established in 1984, which includes three production lines, it works about 20 hours per day, and stops for four hours for maintenance, while the number of workers is 140, distributed in three groups, each group works for 12 hours.