The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Competitively to Syrian regime | Autonomous Administration of NE Syria sets price of purchasing wheat, and rental cost for harvesters in areas under its control

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria has set the price of purchasing wheat crops from farmers at 1.150 SYL per kilogram, and the price of purchasing barley crop at 850 SYL per kilogram, with 150 SYL higher than the price set by the Syrian regime for purchasing wheat, where regime set the price of purchasing one kilogram of wheat at 900 SYL, providing a grant of 100 SYL per kilogram for merchants and farmers who could deliver their wheat crops to centres under regime control in the Syrian Jazeera and the rest of the Syrian regions.

Consequently, the Autonomous Administration set its pricing for wheat competitively to the Syrian regime to get wheat from farmers.

Last year, the Autonomous Administration received wheat from farmers at 16 US cents, preventing them from delivering the wheat crop to the Syrian regime from agricultural land in areas under its control.

Syria’s Jazeera region, which is considered as the food basket of Syria, suffers from a significant decline in wheat yield this year due to the lack of rainfall, in addition to Turkey’s retention of the Euphrates River’s water, which led to a major decline in agriculture. Therefore, farmers tended to depend on the irrigated crop in areas along the Syrian-Turkish borders, known as “Khat al-Ashra”, which relies on underground water extraction through diesel engines.

Moreover, the Autonomous Administration set the cost for renting harvesters as follows:

  • Harvesting irrigated land with hay: 12,000 SYL, or 4% of the harvest.
  • Harvesting irrigated land without hay: 6,000 SYL, or 5%. of the crop.

While the rent for harvesters in rain-fed land has been set as follows:

  • Harvesting with hay: 5,000 SYL 
  • Harvesting without hay: 3000 SYL.

Also, the rent of harvesters for aromatic crops and legumes is as follows:

  • Harvesting irrigated crops: 8000 SYL
  • Harvesting rain-fed crops: 4000 SYL, providing that the Autonomous Administration offers diesel to the harvesters on a daily basis and in limited quantities.