Efforts to revive handmade carpet industry through 10 manufacturing units in Al-Suwayda

The Directorate of Social Affairs and Labor in Al-Suwayda is working to revive the handmade carpet industry as one of the old heritage industries and protect it from extinction.

The Director of Social Affairs and Labor in Al-Suwayda, Eng. Samer Bahsas, said in an interview with SANA reporter that the manufacture of handmade carpets is currently taking place through 10 units that have been re-operated in the villages and towns of Khalkhala, Arman, Ayoun, Mardak, Tal Al-Luz, Baka, Al-Ghariya, Dhibin, Sahwat Al-Khidr and Al-Mazra’a.  There are 25 units that are still suspended, five of them are units whose location has been invested for development purposes in partnerships with a number of parties.

Bahsas indicated that the production of these units amounted to about 50 square meters, compared to more than 32 square meters during the past year, pointing out that all the products are sold due to the demand for them thanks to the technique of manual work and the aesthetic and quality of its various shapes, colors and models.

Bahsas shed light on the difficulties facing the work in the handmade carpet units, the most important of which is the high prices of raw materials in the local market and their unavailability and the presence of quantities of wool and cotton that have become unusable. He called for the modernization of the loom machines in these invested units and an increase in the wages of female workers in proportion to the great exerted effort.

Nassima Amer, a former worker and a current trainer in the Khalla unit called for the necessity of providing raw materials for the units, since the product is sold immediately, as well as providing incentives to workers to preserve them and benefit from their experience to transfer it to others interested in this field.

Inas Abdulkareem