Al-Tabqa: Decline in cotton cultivation due to high costs and lack of support

Cotton cultivation in Al-Tabqa region is witnessing a continuous decline, despite it is being as a strategic summer crop, which is used in many textile industries, and the availability of ingredients for its cultivation in the region, the most important of which is irrigation water from the Euphrates River.

Mohammad Al-Ahmad, a farmer from the northern Tabqa countryside, told ASO News Network that this year he planted only 17 dunums of cotton, while last year he planted more than 40 dunums. The reason for his abandonment of cultivating larger areas is due to the high costs of fertilizer, seeds, cultivation, and pesticides, which are purchased in dollars, in addition to his fears that the crop will be infected with the thorn worm pest, which will lead to a significant decline in production.

He explains that he sold his crop last season at a price of $425 per ton, which he considers a “very small” return, and does not cover production costs, according to him. Al-Ahmad believes that the price of one ton should not be less than $600 as a minimum, in order to cover the costs of agriculture and generate some profits for the farmer.

As for Hassan Al-Ahmad, a farmer from Al-Mansoura countryside (25 km east of Tabqa), he told ASO News Network that he has not grown cotton for more than three years due to the “exorbitant” costs of growing it, as he described it, and the low selling price, in addition to the lack of fuel needed for irrigation. .

It is reported that the price of a barrel of “free” diesel is one and a half million Syrian pounds, “if available.” He pointed out that most farmers tend to grow wheat and barley, because they are less expensive and less labor intensive than the cotton crop, which is exposed to many pests, including the “thorn worm,” according to him.

He adds: “The Autonomous Administration’s failure to receive the cotton crop from the farmers makes them vulnerable to control by merchants, and the failure to distribute fuel to irrigate the crop prompts the farmers to abandon its cultivation.”

During the past years, the Autonomous Administration did not take the initiative to buy cotton, which was a reason for farmers to refrain from growing it, so as not to incur losses or be vulnerable to exploitation by merchants, while the Autonomous Administration decided, on Saturday, to purchase the entire wheat and cotton crops this year.

In turn, the administrator in the Plant Production Office of the Agriculture and Irrigation Authority of the Civil Administration in Tabqa, Abdul Rahman Al-Nasser, confirmed that there is a decline in the cultivation of the cotton crop amounting to more than 35 percent.

Based on statistics from past years, in 2022, about 40,000 dunums of agricultural land were licensed for cotton cultivation, while only 28,000 dunums were cultivated, and in 2023, 22,000 dunums were licensed, of which only 18,000 dunums were planted with cotton.