Deir –ez-Zor 's farmers suffer from dune sands causing spoil and loss their crops

HAMAD AL_MUSTAFA /DEIR-EZ_ZOR

Hammar al-Ali village  is located in the eastern country side of Deir-ez –Zor close to bank of the Euphrates River. Most of population are working  in livestock breeding and rely on the agricultural field, where their land is estimated at thousands of hectares.

As a result of the continuous decline of the Euphrates River and its closure by the Government of Justice and Development, the sand dunes covered large areas of agricultural land and threatened agricultural crops in most of the villages of the eastern countryside of Deir-ez-Zor city .

The second reason for the damage of agricultural crops is the result of chaos and battles in the village and therefore the absence of competent authorities on agriculture, which caused problems for farmers.

According to the villagers, when the wind and air blow, the vision is blocked and the houses are flooded. The sand also enters the roots of the plants, the crops and the wheat crop, which causes the seeds to be burned and damaged.

Most of the people of Hammar al-Ali village  cultivate wheat, barley, vegetables and fruit "tomatoes, cucumbers, shrimps, melons and other vegetables".

In this regard,Hawar news agency  (ANHA) correspondent interviwed some farmers talking about agricultural problems and the suffering of the people.

Farmer Ibrahim Awad Sultan from Hammar al-Ali village said: "Sand dunes is a big problem we suffer from severely, and because of the damage of the crop and landfill storms sand to the lands and wind blowing every year we lost a lot of our crops of the season in each grain of wheat falls on the ground."

Farmer Ibrahim said that the problem emerged years ago without finding a solution to it. "So we ask the concerned authorities and organizations to develop solutions and help us as soon as possible because we do not lose more crops."

Citizen Afraa al- Mahmoud who lost her whole vegetable season said  "When summer comes, we grow vegetables, but we do not take advantage of them. The sand burns every thing and harms the summer crop completely."

Afrarr pointed "Due to the accumulation of sand forming piles, we can not sleep in the summer, while the sand also caused the migration of the majority of the village to another place, leaving their homes and land as a result of this problem."

(T/S)

ANHA