Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) has launched a development project to enhance the 2015 wheat season crop in northern Syria as part of a series of food security projects to reactivate the stalled
economy.
The project has been launched through QRC’s representative office in Turkey, in co-operation with International Humanitarian Relief as an executive partner and Green Plan as a co-ordinator.
With a $245,000 (QR890,881) funding from QRC, the project is designed to support the growing of wheat as an important crop, trying to increase its production to acceptable levels. It can alleviate the everyday suffering of the Syrian people, who can no longer rely on the already insufficient assistance from the international community, which leaves Syrians idle and dependent on foreign aid,
according to a statement.
The purpose of the project is to encourage farmers to cultivate their abandoned land, increase wheat production in target regions as a strategic food item, create work opportunities for jobless agricultural labourers, end wheat monopoly in farming areas and ease the burden on humanitarian organisations by shifting from relief to resource development, the statement adds.
The harvested wheat will be used to produce flour for bread, lowering the production cost and making its prices affordable for Syrians. Talks are being held with the World Food Programme to purchase the wheat harvest instead of importing food from Turkey and other countries.
Serving 108 farmers in northern Aleppo and the Idlib countryside areas, the project is expected to produce 1,146 tonnes of wheat, 429.8 tonnes of which will be retained by the farmers for personal use, 358.1 tonnes will be allocated to the General Organisation for Seed Multiplication and 358.1 tonnes will be kept by QRC to support the 2016 wheat season.
The crop is expected to be collected by the end of June. Some 2,865 donums will be cultivated, each costing $75-130 and yielding 400kg of wheat, or 390 bread packages. One package serves a five-person family.
The project is part of the work done by QRC’s office in Turkey to execute relief and development projects inside Syria to help local communities survive the crisis, which has weighed negatively on all aspects of their lives, utilising its legal capacity as a globally recognised humanitarian organisation whose vehicles, facilities and staff are protected under international laws and conventions.