Promotion of Organic Farming System

DAMASCUS, (ST) – Directorate of Agricultural Guidance is working to circulate a system of organic agriculture to farmers in order to get one hundred percent natural product by relying on feeding crops with natural ingredients according to national standards. This step will help expanding the field to open foreign markets to our agricultural products.

Director of Agricultural Guidance, Eng. Marwan Al Sheikh Fattouh, has underlined that his directorate is looking forward through the adoption of a system of organic farming that means the return to nature to get clean product free of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

“The 2013 plan includes 13 Guidance School which provide new guidance activity that relies on self- education through participation with other farmers to these schools to learn throughout the entire season service operations of the crop. These schools are distributed to the country and each school is specialized in the agricultural activity that exists in every governorate, for example cotton is in the northern and north- eastern, citrus in the coastal region, olives in the central and northern areas and cherries  in Damascus countryside,” Eng. Fattouh added.

“The focus in respect to organic farming is currently on olives, citrus, plums, vine, peaches, pistachio and medicinal plants to be absolutely normal, pointing out that this will lead to open the way for such products to enter the global markets,” Eng. Fattouh said.

“The school includes 15 to 20 farmers and they are divided into three groups working in a field of test dedicated to the implementation of procedures and services related to organic agriculture in addition to another field for implementing what the farmer has learned of services. The farmers are under the supervision of qualified persons to carry out the services adopted by the school,” Eng. Fattouh clarified.

“Such sort of farming plays an important role in fighting drought and preserve the environment from degradation, especially in the arid and semi -arid areas by rebuilding the soil and prevent erosion in addition to control he rates of seeding, reducing of fertilizer inputs and maintain soil moisture in drought conditions. This kind of agriculture contributes to reduce production costs and improve it,”  Eng. Fattouh pointed out.

The system relies on the lack of tillage and the resulting gas of co2 that causes global warming and changes the specifications of soil due to the use of machines and their impact on the soil. This system has achieved impressive results in different areas of Syria and underlined the need to follow modern methods in the field of soil conservation and increasing fertility by keeping crop residues after drying as a cover to the soil to maintain moisture, use organic fertilizers, follow the crop rotations, use special machines that give high productivity of various crops.

This way of farming is considered one of the best modern technologies to maintain soil fertility, provide all mineral elements needed for field crops, vegetables, fruit trees and reduce the use of irrigation water.

It is noteworthy, that Syria is ranked the fifth in the Arab world in this farming. Ministry of Agriculture recently underlined the importance of encouraging work in spreading organic farming through legislative and legal frameworks, particularly with the adoption of agricultural systems in the world to achieve sustainability and integration in the field of agriculture.

 During a meeting with members of the Syrian National Committee for Organic Production, Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Ahmed Qadri, pointed out that traditional farming in the seventies and application of intensive agricultural systems have led to the deterioration of soil fertility, particularly the kind which depends on duplicated farming of the crop itself. He also indicated the urgent need to promote and encourage the application of organic farming because it keeps the soil and its fertility.

The minister confirmed the availability of objective and environmentconditions to develop this farming, as well as the presence of some schools for farmers in the governorates that instruct farmers about consolidating the concept of organic farming and adopting such kind of farming.

He also called to raise a slogan, entitled “This organic farming is made in Syria”, in the ministry and the various concerned bodies to upgrade this important economic product in cooperation with specialist scientists.

Sh. Kh.