The Tartous Farmers Union held a meeting at its headquarters in the governorate today, Wednesday, to discuss the current state of laurel marketing and the difficulties faced by farmers, as well as ways to provide necessary facilitations for its disposal. The meeting was attended by the Director of Agriculture, representatives of the Laurel Cooperative, and a number of relevant authorities.
The meeting emphasized the importance of coordinating joint efforts to overcome obstacles facing farmers and improve marketing opportunities for the crop, thereby serving the interests of producers and relevant authorities and supporting the stability of agricultural production processes.
For his part, Raed Mustafa, President of the Farmers Union in Tartous, clarified in a statement to SANA that the meeting discussed possible solutions to facilitate marketing and disposal operations, aiming to achieve the desired benefits for farmers and enhance cooperation and coordination among relevant authorities to advance the laurel cultivation sector.
In the same context, Mustafa noted that laurel cultivation is widespread in the areas of Qadmous, Baniyas, Derikish, and Safita. He pointed out the existence of a specialized cooperative for its production in the village of Al-Shandakha in the Baniyas area, which owns 1,840 plots distributed across the village, in addition to afforestation works in new sites on Mount Al-Qut in the Sheikh Badr area.
Mustafa indicated that the laurel crop is marketed through traders coming from other governorates. He explained that it is used in the production of laurel soap and the extraction of its oil, serving as a source of livelihood for farmers alongside its medical benefits.
He noted that laurel is a forest tree and that marketing its products requires a license. He highlighted the challenges facing production, primarily water scarcity and the use of primitive tools in soap manufacturing.
Laurel is considered an important economic resource in Tartous Governorate, with the governorate's mountains forming the natural and historical habitat for this evergreen forest tree.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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