Cotton farming shrinks in Jazira

Cotton has long been one of the Jazira Canton's key strategic crops, serving for decades as a cornerstone of the local economy and a primary source of income for thousands of farming families. It also supplies raw materials for cotton gins and textile factories, while its seeds are used to produce vegetable oils and animal feed.

Despite its importance, cotton cultivation has been shrinking year after year, with a growing number of farmers abandoning the crop because of soaring production costs and mounting challenges throughout the agricultural season.

Farmer Filzor Abdul Hamid, from the village of Siha al-Kabira in the countryside of Tirbespiye, said cotton farming is facing multiple threats, foremost among them drought and declining groundwater levels, which have forced farmers to rely entirely on artesian wells for irrigation.

He explained that cotton requires between 12 and 15 irrigation cycles during the growing season, significantly increasing fuel consumption for water pumps. Farmers are also forced to purchase diesel from the open market at high prices, sharply raising production costs.

Abdul Hamid added that rising prices of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, along with labor shortages, have further discouraged cotton cultivation, prompting many farmers to switch to less expensive and more reliable crops.

He noted that marketing remains another major challenge, as authorities fail to announce purchase prices early enough or offer prices that reflect production costs, leaving farmers concerned about suffering financial losses when selling their harvests.

He called for sufficient supplies of subsidized agricultural diesel, affordable seeds and fertilizers through official channels, and the announcement of a fair procurement price before the harvest season to ensure a reasonable profit margin and encourage farmers to continue growing this strategic crop.

Farmers warn that the continued decline in cotton cultivation threatens not only their livelihoods but also an entire economic sector linked to the textile, vegetable oil, and animal feed industries, underscoring the need for urgent measures to preserve the status of "white gold" in the Jazira Canton.

ANHA