Agriculture Minister: More Support to Agricultural Sector

DAMASCUS, (ST) – The Minister of Agriculture Eng. Ahmed al -Qadri said in a statement to local press that the value of the government support to the agricultural sector amounted to 12.2 billion Syrian Pounds.

He pointed to the continued support for the agricultural sector despite the drop in funding sources due to the current crisis experienced by the country.

The minister pointed out that the Agricultural Production Support Fund provided support for the strategic crops, the cotton crop and breeders of silk worm whereas the annual support reached to 10 billion Syrian pounds while the Fund of  mitigating the effects of drought and natural disasters provided 201 million Syrian pounds.

He noted that the program for artificial insemination of livestock was supported with various immunizations and another support was provided for the reclamation of land.

Eng.  Qadri indicated that the indirect support includes the support provided to the Public Authority for Agricultural Scientific Research where the authority, through its eight research centers based in the safe areas, continues to devise breeds and superior productivity by researchers and technicians, pointing out that the investment plan of the Authority exceeded 534 million pounds last year.

The Minister clarified that the central directorates in the provinces, particularly the Directorate of Agricultural Guidance conducted settling and transferring of modern technologies to the farm and this reflected clearly on the increasing productivity and contributed to the introduction of new crops with high supply and the adoption of agricultural eco-friendly patterns.

Sharif al -Khatib