The economic crisis reflects negatively on the farmers in the countryside of Aleppo, as agriculture is no longer the source of their abundant livelihood.
Abu Alaa Falah, from the town of Kaljabreen in the northern countryside of Aleppo, used to grow several seasons on vegetables and fruits, but today he relies on the cultivation of Baal, which does not need periodic watering, because the high cost of fuel has become his obsession, in addition to the expensive seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.
"Agriculture has become very bad," says Abu Alaa. "Everything is expensive because we buy in dollars, not in Syrian pounds, as it was before. Even plowing the land has become very expensive."
He adds, "Because of this high cost, I relied on cultivating Baal, knowing that his returns are very little and he hardly covers his costs and my living with my family, but it is still better than working as a worker in the land of others."
Close borders and crossings
After harvest, the crops move to the cardamom market, which is a wholesale market for vegetables and is filled with agricultural products coming to it daily, causing them to stagnate.
This is due to the closure of border crossings and border crossings, and the stopping of the export movement outside the opposition-controlled areas, which are among the main reasons for the low prices of agricultural products due to the weak exchange market.
"With the crossings and the borders closed, as if we were in a besieged area, there is no room for commercial disposal outside the region, and the fear of the recession is the inability to store for a long time for agricultural products," said Jamal Kno, a vegetable trader.
"We cannot buy from the farmers at prices that suit them, because daily damage is a major obsession and a huge loss to the farmer who reaps the vegetables but does not cost them," Kno added.
Imported products
The farmers and traders consider that the import of agricultural products, especially those in the region in abundance, has a major role in the loss of farmers and causes the deterioration of the agricultural sector, because the imported products reach the market before the arrival of local products at lower prices, and this makes the farmer have two options, either selling at prices Less than the cost, or the entire crop is lost by damage, while the merchants resort to imported products because of the scope of the profit in them.
Despite the low prices of agricultural products, people see them as high compared to their income today, and citizen Aziz says, "The prices of vegetables are intolerable because they are something we need daily and depend on for our livelihood, and the average daily income per person today is not allowed to buy everything he needs, and he is forced to give up, for example About fruits that have become luxuries today. "
More than 4 million people live in northern Syria, half of whom are displaced and displaced by the military operations of the regime and its allies, and this has caused them to lose their livelihoods, in addition to the deteriorating economic conditions in the region, which has left a poverty and unemployment rate of more than 60% of young people, to increase the flames of war and the flames of poverty Their tragedy.