The Agriculture and Irrigation Authority in the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) has set the purchase price for wheat from farmers for the 2023-2024 agricultural season.

According to the decision issued by the Authority today, Sunday, May 26, the purchase price was set at 31 cents per kilogram, subject to the standard grading system, whereas last year it was set at 43 cents for the same quantity.

The North Press agency, active in the region, stated that it had previously obtained a statement from officials of the Autonomous Administration indicating that it would purchase the entire wheat and cotton crops from farmers for the current year.

According to observations by an Enab Baladi correspondent in al-Hasakah, farmers in the Amuda area held a sit-in in the city center protesting the Autonomous Administration’s decision to set the wheat price.

Faysal al-Sayel, a farmer from Amuda, told Enab Baladi that the pricing is a “great injustice” to farmers and confirmed that if the situation continues like this, farmers will be forced to abandon planting this strategic crop due to the continuous reduction in purchase prices every year.

The farmer urged the Autonomous Administration to urgently reconsider this year’s pricing.

The delay by the Autonomous Administration in pricing the agricultural crops for the current harvest season had exposed farmers to exploitation by grain traders of wheat and barley.

In al-Hasakah province, there are two pricing systems for purchasing agricultural crops: one issued by the Syrian regime’s government in Damascus and the other by the Autonomous Administration, which controls the northeastern regions of Syria.

The Syrian regime’s Council of Ministers (Cabinet) had set the purchase price for wheat from farmers for the 2023-2024 agricultural season at 5500 Syrian pounds per kilogram (0.36 US dollars), which is higher than the price announced by the Autonomous Administration, during the council’s session on April 23 last year.

Last season

The Autonomous Administration purchased 1.15 million tons of wheat from farmers for last year’s harvest season at a price of 43 cents per kilogram (3700 Syrian pounds at that time). It announced on July 31, 2023, the cessation of purchase operations from farmers.

Wheat is considered one of the main strategic crops in Syria, with an average production from 1990 to 2010 exceeding four million tons.

Syria recorded its highest production in 2006 at 4.9 million tons, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. The average local consumption was 2.5 million tons, which provided a surplus for export ranging between 1.2 and 1.5 million tons.

However, for years, the Syrian regime’s government has secured wheat from Russia through various agreements whose details are rarely disclosed, or through tenders issued by the General Grain Corporation in Syria for purchasing wheat.