“Yellow rust” threatens agricultural crops in Al-Hasakah countryside

Farmers in the western countryside of Al-Hasakah fear damage to their agricultural crops after the wheat crop was infected with yellow rust, a disease that affects wheat leaves, preventing food from reaching the ears and making the plant unable to grow and produce.

Ahmed Al-Hassan, a farmer from Al-Hasakah countryside, told Aso News Network that this year he planted (100) dunums of wheat in the village of Umm Al-Malah, located in the western countryside of the city of Al-Hasakah, noting that his crop was infected with the “yellow rust” scourge.

He explains that the pest appeared among his crops last March, which is the time when wheat grains grow, which forced him to buy fungicides and organic materials and spray them on the crops to treat them, to combat the pest, limit its spread, and protect his crop from damage.

Farmer Abdul Ghani Al-Saleh, a resident of the village of Saba Hamayel (12 km west of Al-Hasakah), also told ASO News Network that he planted 150 dunums of wheat this season, and the “yellow rust” pest spread among his crops during the flowering stage, considering it the most dangerous stage that may spread. There is a blight between wheat and barley, and “the losses are greater,” as he put it.

He added that yellow rust is the most dangerous disease affecting wheat and barley in the region due to weather fluctuations and high humidity, indicating that it has an impact on quality, quantity and quality, especially if the spread is widespread, and then it may destroy the entire crop, according to what he said.

Al-Saleh, through ASO News Network, called on the relevant authorities in the Agriculture and Irrigation Authority of the Autonomous Administration to support farmers and peasants and provide them with fungicides and materials necessary to combat this scourge.