97 Million olive trees planted in Syria

Olive agriculture in Syria constitutes 12 percent of the total planted area as the number of olive trees has reached 97,174,000 expanding over an area of 647,273 hectares with a production estimated at 943 thousand tons last season. Director of Olive Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Firas Sweid, said that the preliminary estimations of olive production in 2011 indicate that the production hit one million tons distributed among several Syrian provinces. He added that Aleppo comes in the first place among the Syrian provinces as it has produced 325 thousand tons, pointing out that the increase in the production this year is due to the rainfalls. The production of olive in Lattakia was also good and it is expected to reach 148 thousand tons for 2011, while the production in Homs is estimated at 142 thousand tons and Idleb has produced 140 thousand tons of olive since the beginning of 2011. With regard to Tartous Province, Sweid indicated that the production of olive is expected to reach 108 thousand tons and it is considered a good season in comparison with the previous seasons, indicating that the production has reached 55 thousand tons in Hama, 47 thousand tons in Damascus Countryside, 72 thousand tons in Daraa and 10 thousand tons in Sweida. He affirmed that the general situation of the trees is good, and the trees which have been affected by the plights are within the limits of the economic threshold. A study conducted by the Commission of Exports Development & Promotion showed that the production of olive will increase in the coming years for many reasons such as expanding olive agriculture by three million trees a year and the entrance of two million new trees in the production phase annually, in addition to the Government's encouragement for the farmers to plant more olive saplings. The study also showed that olive agriculture contributes to 3,5 percent of the national income and more than 55 percent of the Syrian olive oil has a high quality.