Using Alternative Energy in Northeastern Region

DAMASCUS, (ST) – The Director of the North-Eastern Region Development Project at the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Dr. Yasser al -Salameh said that the  management of the project immediately started distributing 200 solar cookers by technical teams in the project. The cookers were distributed in the governorates of Al Hasakah, Raqqa and Deir al-Zour, in an attempt to circulate the culture of the use of alternative energy (solar energy).

‏“Through the transfer of this technology, the next step will be towards mapping out an executive program for the production of biogas from animal waste (in a hundred village) through the introduction of advanced new technologies to the rural community,” Dr. al –Salameh said.

 “Taking into account the environmental dimension to achieve the principle of sustainable development and to contribution to improving the living conditions and the economic and social development for the people of the region through the involvement of the community in the comprehensive development process and optimal investment of natural and human resources,” he added.

Dr. al –Salameh pointed out that this program comes in the framework of the government’s support for the North- Eastern region to find alternatives that would develop the region through the deployment of some programs and projects, including the production of biogas from animal waste, and maintaining the sustainability of agricultural resources.

 And between the safety that the goal of the new project is to help rural households to dispose of animal waste using the technique of bio-gas, and convert this waste into a source of income for the family and raise their standard of living and provide organic fertilizer.

 Dr. al salameh noted that the cow dung and organic waste from plants and animals have great value in the age of technology, industry, environment and clean energy, where the organic waste has become valuable in the areas of alternative energy and its use as a source of alternative power and provides organic fertilizer to raise agricultural productivity,.

“It is a good way of sanitation, and the optimal investment of natural resources and human resources through the provision of technical and necessary economic support, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and reducing global warming,” Dr. al salameh clarified.

The northeastern region development project was established upon an agreement between the government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the project was able to achieve concrete steps on the ground in the region, Dr. al –Salameh explained.  

“The importance of this vital project is  in its diversity of components and the multiplicity of services that contribute to the achievement of its overall objectives by improving the capabilities of the community, and optimal invest for natural and human resources in order to improve the living conditions of economic and social development for members of the rural community. It also activates its role in the management of the development process and sustainable development of plans for the targeted villages, as well as the implement of a range of income-generating projects,” Dr. al Salameh pointed out.

Earlier, the Director of Agricultural Guidance at the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Jamal Farroukh, has underlined the completion of 22 units for the production of biogas in three governorates to reduce environmental impacts and reduce the burning of crop residues. About 80 percent of the units have been put in full service.

The goal of these units, according to Farroukh, is to process data and field days as an experiment to provide electrical power that encouraged some farmers (livestock breeders) to apply this experiment in their farms which helped securing electricity and alleviating some of the economic burden for them.

Regarding the development-taking place in the use of modern agricultural technique, Mr. Farroukh explained that the proportion of anti-frost environmentally safe ways reached 42 percent.

 Sharif al -Khatib