More than 16,000 hectares have so far been cultivated with cotton in Syria 

The area that has been cultivated with cotton crops has so far reached 16,271 hectares of which 5,236 hectares are in the safe areas. 

The Director of the Cotton Office in the ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Ahmad Al-Ali, said in a statement to SANA that the cultivated area was distributed between 4000 hectares in Deir Ezzor, 239 hectares in rural Damascus, 200 hectares in Aleppo, 129 hectares in Al-Ghab Plain and 100 hectares in Raqqa, while the cultivated area in the unsafe areas is 11,035 hectares, distributed between the governorates of Raqqa and Hasakah. 

Al-Ali pointed out that the reason for the delay in cotton cultivation in most governorates is due to the weather conditions and planting after harvesting the winter crops. 

It is to be noted that cotton is one of the most important agricultural crops in Syria. It was grown in large quantities in several areas in Syria. In the year 2011, Syria produced more than one million tons of cotton.  

The Syrian cotton is considered as one of the best and finest types of cotton in the world, and Syria was one of the most important countries in producing cotton, as it used to export it abroad, especially to the European countries which used it in the manufacturing of high quality textiles. 

Souha Sulieman