Kobani – North-Press Agency
Fattah Issa – Fayad Muhammad
In early March of this year, the Economic Committee in Kobani began selling its greenhouse-grown vegetables in the markets of Kobani and Manbij, after months of cultivation in the village of Qenaya near the Euphrates River.
The Autonomous Administration in Kobani established the greenhouse project in 2016 in order to meet the people’s need for vegetables, achieve self-sufficiency, and contribute to reductions in both prices and imports from outside the region. Farmers were also encouraged to take advantage of the experience and create private greenhouses.
Price reduction
The greenhouse project includes 27 dunums (27,000 square meters) of agricultural land, which were prepared four years ago, while this year’s production began a few days ago. The project has reduced the price of zucchini in the market from 600 Syrian pounds to 425 Syrian pounds, according to the spokesman of the Economic Committee in Kobani Khalil Sheikh Muslim. He also confirmed that the price will decrease further in the coming days as production increases.
The project provided work opportunities for more than 15 people with their families, as Sheikh Muslim indicated that the peasants working on the project are experts.
The cost of the project of constructing greenhouses in 2016 was about 135 million Syrian pounds, according to the Economy Committee in Kobani, and it includes four hangars and about 55 plastic houses along the length of 25 meters per plastic house.
Cultivated area
14 dunums of the total land area of 27 dunums were planted, of which three dunums were allocated for the cultivation of cucumbers, four for zucchini and seven for eggplant, according to the supervisor of the greenhouse project Mahmoud Keiko, pointing out that the production of zucchini started since the beginning of this March, while production of cucumber and eggplant will start with the beginning of next April.
Selling markets
The daily production amount of zucchini is currently about 250 kilograms and production is harvested in two batches in the morning and evening, and the Economic Committee supervises the sale of products in local markets.
The areas in northern Syria rely on agriculture as a major source of income, but it has declined significantly during the years of the Syrian crisis, while officials of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria pledged last year to take measures that would support local production and work to achieve self-sufficiency.