Raqqa – Tuesday, 15 Jan 2019 – The SRTF delivered six tractors and three combine harvesters to farmers’ cooperatives in three rural communities northeast of Raqqa City, today. The equipment was delivered under the SRTF’s “Agriculture Support to Farmers – Phase I”, part of the SRTF’s “Filling the Void” stabilization programme that provides immediate relief to Syrians living in areas liberated from Daesh.
This equipment will be shared among member farmers and used to support the cultivation and harvesting of cereals, an essential food commodity that is helping to stabilize households and communities in northeast Syria. In the immediate-term, the equipment will support the current winter wheat that SRTF provided earlier this season. Approximately 2,500 hectares of land is planted which will yield an estimated 4,800 tons of harvested wheat while providing employment opportunities to over 20,000 farmhands. In the long-term, the equipment will be maintained by the cooperatives for the use of member farmers and increase productivity and harvest yields of future crops.
Upcoming deliveries include farming implements, pesticides, fungicides, rodenticides, plus the rehabilitation of two bridges. Moreover, the SRTF is concurrently supporting an additional four farmer cooperatives under Phase II of this intervention with similar equipment and agricultural inputs.