Syria’s Autonomous Administration exempts farmers from coronavirus lockdown in Euphrates region
KOBANI, Syria (North Press) – Farmers of Syria’s northern city of Kobani gathered on Tuesday in front of the Kobani Provincial Council, complaining about the effect of the total lockdown on the agricultural season and on the olive harvest.
Muhammad Kurdi, a farmer from the village of Tafsho in southern Kobani, said that he has still not received wheat seeds, despite having permission to plant his land.
He pointed out that the process of distributing seeds to farmers stopped as the region entered into a total lockdown.
“The imposition of a total lockdown on the region and the late rainfall delayed the cultivation of land in Kobani this year.”
Kurdi demanded that farmers be allowed to go to the village in order to complete the cultivation of their lands, as they are prevented from leaving the city by the checkpoints. “There are people who live in the city and their lands and trees are in the countryside, so they are forced to go to the villages in order to harvest crops and cultivate their lands and return at night,” he said.
Ahmed Bahaa al-Din, a farmer of the village of Qereqoye, west of Kobani, said that delaying their cultivation of their lands “will negatively affect the agricultural season.”
Farmers were forced to delay plowing their lands because of the late arrival of winter rains, and they waited for harmful plants to grow on the land in order to get rid of them through plowing.
Bahaa al-Din points out that there is a problem of harvesting olives, which requires labor from the city to the countryside on a daily basis, and that the lockdown has negatively affected the harvesting of the crop.
On Tuesday, the Crisis Management Team in the Euphrates region issued a decision to allow farmers to cross the checkpoints towards the countryside from six to seven in the morning to complete their agricultural work.
Farmers are only allowed to return home till 6:00 pm, with a document from the village commune proving that they cultivated their land or harvested their olives.
Layla Ahmed, co-chair of the Kobani Provincial Council and a member of the Crisis Team, said in a special statement to North Press, “After imposing a complete lockdown in the Kobani district, we received several complaints from farmers a few days later, as they face many problems regarding changing weather conditions and they must accelerate planting their lands.”
Ahmed added, considering that the area is agricultural, the Crisis Team issued this exceptional decision to solve the problem of farmers.
Ahmed indicated that the Crisis Team decided to secure wheat seeds, fertilizers, and diesel fuel for farmers in the suburbs and towns in Kobani countryside, so that farmers would not be forced to enter the city and gather together there.