Cotton planting areas in Deir Ezzor governorate have declined during the current agricultural season, amid rising production costs and fuel prices, and a mismatch between crop purchase prices and cultivation costs, exacerbating farmers' losses and threatening the continuation of this strategic crop.
The Director of Agricultural Affairs at the Deir Ezzor Farmers Union, Faiq Al-Hussein, told SANA on Wednesday that planted cotton areas reached about 10,000 dunams, out of a planned 84,636 dunams, noting that areas decreased by 50 to 60 percent compared to last year.
He explained that planned and implemented areas were distributed as follows: Deir Ezzor: 38,190 dunams planned, against 1,900 dunams implemented. Al-Mayadin: 14,446 dunams planned, against 6,110 dunams implemented. Al-Bukamal: 32,000 dunams planned, against 2,000 dunams implemented.
Rising production costs exacerbate farmers' losses
Al-Hussein pointed out that the cooperative sector, supervised by the Farmers Union, accounts for about 80 percent of the total planted areas of this crop in the governorate, attributing the decline to the absence of support and rising production costs.
He noted that the cooperative sector accounts for about 80 percent of the total planted areas of this crop in the governorate, attributing the decline to the absence of support and rising production costs, which no longer match crop purchase prices, exposing farmers to increasing losses, noting that no official price has been issued yet for purchasing cotton from farmers.
Cotton cultivation declines in Marat
For his part, Zidan Al-Khalaf Al-Rifdan, head of the Farmers Association in Marat town, clarified that the cotton planting area in the town dropped from 550 dunams last year to 20 dunams during the current season, calling for support for this crop by providing fuel at reduced prices.
Al-Rifdan pointed out that successive losses suffered by farmers, along with rising production and fuel costs, have driven many to avoid cotton cultivation, calling for replacing diesel engines used in irrigation with solar-powered engines to reduce operating costs and alleviate burdens on farmers.
Fears of cotton cultivation abandonment
For their part, farmers Huwaidi Al-Rifdan and Wadha Al-Rifdan, from Marat town, pointed out the difficulties faced by cotton farmers and the losses resulting from rising production input costs, especially fuel and labor wages.
They explained that cotton cultivation requires about ten irrigations during the season, raising production costs, given the mismatch between workers' wages and farming expenses with the return farmers receive, warning that continuing these conditions may push farmers to abandon cotton cultivation.
The cotton harvest season usually begins in late September, and production volume in Deir Ezzor governorate reached about 4,500 tons during the 2025 season, according to the governorate's Agriculture Directorate, on a planted area of about 2,300 hectares.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
Comments (0)