Hama – Iyad Abdul Jawad

The joy of a large segment of farmers in the countryside of Hama returning to their lands from which they were displaced after the fall of the Syrian regime has not been complete, as they are burdened with worries and find themselves facing problems hindering the return to farming.

According to farmers and agricultural engineers interviewed by Enab Baladi, the soil of the lands is exhausted and devastated, having suffered severe injustices, including theft of equipment, uprooting of decades-old trees, the spread of rats, the emergence of harmful plants and weeds, in addition to the greatest danger being chemicals and explosives.

“Theft of lands and their resources”

After nine years of displacement and exile to the countryside of Aleppo, farmer Ibrahim Ramadan returned to a barren land in the village of Qabr Fida in western Hama, lamenting its condition, as it is only filled with dense harmful weeds and rat burrows.

His land, spanning 20 dunams, used to include about 100 olive trees, each over ten years old and producing around 30 kilograms of olives. However, after the regime’s forces took control of the village, houses were destroyed, all the trees were cut, and water pumps were stolen.

The farmer told Enab Baladi that he is currently trying to cultivate his land again, but the cost of farming is very high, especially since he still resides in the city of Jindires in northern Aleppo, as his house is also completely destroyed.

Meanwhile, farmer Mahmoud Falaha (50 years old) saw the regime’s forces cut down 300 pistachio trees from his land, located on the outskirts of the village of Latmeen in southern Hama, out of 700 trees.

The farmer feels a deep sadness for his cut trees, which were over 30 years old. He told Enab Baladi that those forces also stole equipment from a well on the land, as well as a generator and a water pump.

Hundreds of farmers share similar situations, including Ziyad Naddaf from the city of Morek in the countryside of Hama, who described the condition of the lands and homes as “a major disaster,” as they were subjected to theft, burning, and cutting down of pistachio trees.

Naddaf stated to Enab Baladi that the regime’s forces and “shabiha” were “seizing” the land and selling its produce, indifferent to the value of the trees and crops, with land being auctioned off in the absence of its owners.

The farmer added that more than two-thirds of his farm, which is 64 years old, was burned and its trees were cut down. The area under cultivation was equivalent to 75 dunams, or 1,024 pistachio trees, of which only about 250 remain today.

The farmer plans to compensate for the cut area with small saplings, which will take nearly ten years to produce, highlighting the exorbitant costs in terms of time and money that he cannot bear.

Harmful weeds and pests

Agricultural engineer Ahmed al-Shuhoud told Enab Baladi that agricultural lands have deteriorated in recent years, especially in the al-Ghab plain, given his familiarity with the area, facing numerous problems, including:

• The dense spread of perennial weeds (grass, Johnson grass, reed, or papyrus).
• The invasion of aquatic weeds in the main and secondary drains, which block winter water drainage, leading to flooding and damaging crops and lands, making it difficult to eliminate these weeds. Even if specialized pesticides are used, they prove ineffective.
• The spread of pests and harmful creatures, including field rats, which breed quickly and destroy cultivated areas.

The engineer explained that these problems impede farming operations, reduce productivity, increase costs, and lead to farmer losses.

As for olive and pistachio trees and forestry, they were cut down by the regime forces and their allies, leading to a total loss of production.

Al-Shuhoud added that an olive tree requires 5 to 10 years to yield a good production, while a pistachio tree requires 10 to 15 years.

The engineer considered deforestation and burning a greater crime, as a forest requires 100 years to return to its previous state, adding that all these problems have increased the suffering of farmers, requiring greater time and effort for the lands to return to their productive state.

Landmines and unexploded munitions… What are the solutions?

Northwestern Syria is considered one of the areas most heavily bombed by various types of munitions, including artillery and missiles from Russian and regime forces.

The regime forces and Iranian militias left the area, leaving behind fields of landmines and unexploded ordnance, deployed in diverse methods to cause maximum human casualties and greater harm to the environment.

According to a report by Enab Baladi, landmines represent one of the most significant obstacles facing farmers, who fear explosions at any moment, in addition to the craters left by bombings and the presence of gunpowder in the soil.

According to a previous report prepared by Enab Baladi, agricultural sciences professor Abdul Aziz Dayoub stated that agricultural soil affected by gunpowder needs several years for rehabilitation before it can be utilized, depending on the residual effects in the soil, as the larger the effects, the longer the soil will take—up to 25 years. The most crucial aspect of treating it is exposing it to sunlight and planting legumes without harvesting, as they are toxic.

Dr. Maysar al-Hassan, an academic at the Sham University, highlighted the need to make soil treatment and reducing health hazards for individuals in northwestern Syria part of urgent humanitarian relief efforts in the short term, and part of long-term economic and environmental recovery efforts.

According to al-Hassan, to mitigate the effects of pollution in the short term, NGOs working with farmers should prioritize conducting a systematic regional survey to monitor the use of wastewater for irrigation purposes, publish data on soil and groundwater quality used for irrigation, implement an independent program for periodic soil sampling and analysis to assess risks of soil contamination with cadmium, cobalt, and mercury, and conduct studies on the absorption of major crops in the region of toxic elements from the soil, dust, and smoke residue from fires.