Citrus Festival Kicks off in Lattakia

The Citrus Festival currently held at the National Museum in Lattakia province constitutes  an important economic and trade manifestation  and a platform to introduce Syrian citrus  fruit that have distinct characteristics.

The festival, which kicked off on Saturday, displays all kinds of citrus fruits with the aim of promoting this important agricultural product and introducing it for marketing internally and externally.

The four-day economic  festival will be accompanied by holding a scientific symposium  on Sunday at  Dar Al-Assad for Culture with the participation of about 25 lecturers from the Syrian universities, the Production and Exports Support and Development Agency ( EPSDA) and the marketing authorities.

The  outcomes of the symposium will have positive impacts on the situation of citrus fruits in terms of production, growing, marketing and exporting.

Concerning the participation of the Italian “Global GAP”, a “Good Agricultural Practice” certification body, which grants organic farming certificates for natural products, the inspector at the company, Eng. Sami Wahiba, made it clear that the company’s participation aims at  introducing the company, which was licensed in Syria, to the farmers and the sorting and packaging centers and at defining its certificates which are considered a transit pass for the Syrian product to the global markets.

Eng. Wahiba described  the Syrian agricultural production as one of the best products , pointing out that the Syrian citrus fruits enjoy  international specifications. He underlined  that there are several farms in Syria that have been granted the company’s certificate, which proves that they  meet the specifications required for organic and exportable production.

Director of Lattakia Agriculture Munzer Kheir Bek, on his part, said that the festival is important for external marketing, particularly after the government has adopted a certain policy to market the surplus of citrus.

He clarified that the citrus fruits production constitutes a main source of income for more than 45 families in Lattakia, noting that the province’s production of citrus fruits this year is 800,000 tons.

Rawaa Ghanam