The Trust, ACSAD sign MOU to develop work in agricultural sector

DAMASCUS COUNTRYSIDE, Aug.23, (ST)- Building strategic partnerships with Arab and international organizations and reaching sustainable solutions to agricultural development challenges are the most important objectives of the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed on Tuesday by the Syria Trust for Development (The Trust) with the Arab Center for the Study of Arid Zones and Dry Lands  (ACSAD) in the center’s headquarters in Al-Saboura area.

Through this memorandum, the Trust seeks to enhance cooperation and exchange experiences to achieve the best investment of resources in the agricultural sector through the implementation of programmes, projects and activities in a number of targeted Syrian governorates within its development plans.

Speaking to reporters, the Trust’s Executive Director, Shadi Al-Ashi, indicated that this memorandum puts the foundations of the achievement of sustainable agricultural development and contributes to developing the expertise, technical capabilities and collective techniques of the sector, which contributes to achieving better productivity for individual projects and helps define frameworks for cooperation and coordination between the two sides by involving local communities in the planning and the implementation.

ACSAD’s Director-General, Nasr Al-Din Al-Obeid, clarified that many agricultural development projects, which support local communities and rural women, will emerge upon this memorandum to enhance their resilience, build their capacities and improve their income through implementing small and micro projects and mobilizing local, Arab and international energies and capabilities to find the necessary funding for them.

He stressed that work will be started directly through the formation of supervisory committees in all governorates, especially the most needy governorates.

“Under the memorandum, ACSAD’s experts will train residents to implement the aforementioned projects, including handicrafts, cultivating saffron and the Damascene rose, establishing mountain lakes, supporting areas hit by fires during the past years, finding alternative crops in them, securing production requirements, seeds, fodder and soil analysis so that they can settle in their areas,” Al-Obied added.

It is noteworthy that the Trust has been able, during 21 years of working in the development of local communities, to cement its partnership with government agencies, civil institutions and experts with the aim of achieving its goals in sustainable development in cooperation with the local communities in which it works to develop their skills and energies.

Basma Qaddour