A Wide Campaign to Distribute Subsidized Agricultural Fuel Oil in Support of the Wheat Season
Syrian News - Special
The Ministry of Agriculture, in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and the Syrian Petroleum Company, has started implementing a large-scale campaign to distribute subsidized agricultural fuel oil in a number of governorates in support of the wheat season and securing production requirements, starting from the end of April 2026, in a step that is considered the largest in years at the level of subsidizing hydrocarbons allocated to the agricultural sector.
In implementation of this plan, the Directorate of Agriculture of Raqqa explained in a statement published on its official identifiers the start of distribution through a distribution mechanism based on conducting field surveys and sensory surveys targeting farmers who rely on diesel engines to irrigate their lands, whether from water bodies or artesian wells.
Between quantity and quality
Raqqa farmers had mixed opinions about the campaign to distribute subsidized agricultural mazout, between those who focused on the size of the allocations and those who considered the quality of the material to be the biggest challenge, at a time when distribution operations continue to support the wheat season and secure irrigation needs.
On the one hand, a number of farmers believe that the distributed quantities are not enough to cover the actual needs of irrigation and the operation of pumps, farmer Issa Al-Ali explained to "Syrian News" that the current quantity—7 liters per dunam irrigated from water bodies and 12 liters per dunam irrigated from artesian wells—does not meet the requirements of the season, pointing out that it should be raised to 10 liters per dunam in surface irrigation and 15 liters per dunam in irrigation through wells, so that the farmer can do without buying diesel from the market at prices High.
On the other hand, other farmers consider that the allocated quantities are appropriate, but the problem lies in the quality of the diesel, farmer Mohammed Al-Hassan told "Syrian News" that the quality of the material is low, which is directly reflected in the performance of the pumping engines and exposes them to frequent malfunctions, which imposes additional financial burdens on farmers as a result of the maintenance and repair costs of water bodies, pointing out that any decline in the quality of fuel affects the regularity of irrigation, and thus the productivity of the crop.
Despite these remarks, Al-Hassan expressed his appreciation for the government's initiative, stressing that the provision of subsidized fuel oil relieves an important part of the financial burden on farmers, especially in light of the significant rise in the prices of diesel in the local markets.
Down payment distribution
Ahmed Al-Kadro, the farmers' representative in Raqqa province, confirmed to "Syrian News" that the committee supervising the distribution of agricultural fuel has worked, in cooperation with all concerned authorities, especially the Farmers' Union and the Directorate of Agriculture, to implement comprehensive field surveys and direct sensory surveys on the lands of farmers who rely on diesel engines to irrigate their crops, whether from water bodies or artesian wells. Based on these tours, accurate nominal schedules were organized that included all eligible farmers, before submitting them to the Directorate of Agriculture, which in turn referred them to the branch of the Hydroqat Company for Audit and Accreditation.
This was also confirmed by Yasser Al-Sahn, the manager of the Hydroqat Company branch in Raqqa, explaining to "Syrian News" that the schedules received from the Directorate of Agriculture have undergone a careful review process to ensure that no farmer is deprived of his allocations, and to achieve justice in the distribution according to the specified percentages per dunam , adding that the current distribution process is carried out under the direct supervision of the committee in charge, in order to ensure that the material reaches its beneficiaries without exception.
Al-Sahn pointed out that the batch that is currently being distributed is not the last, as it will be followed by another batch or perhaps two, stressing that the quantities allocated to the agricultural sector in Raqqa province are sufficient to meet the needs of farmers during the remaining period of the season, especially that the irrigated fields of wheat have only one or two lungs left before the start of the harvest season.
Conditional support
For his part, the director of agriculture in Raqqa, Mohammed al-Ahmad, revealed that the subsidized agricultural mazout is limited to the irrigated wheat crop, explaining that the entitlement is directly related to the irrigation method adopted by the farmer. The subsidy only includes farmers who irrigate their fields using diesel engines, in two specific cases: the first concerns farmers who rely on pumping from water bodies such as the Euphrates River, lakes and irrigation canals, where 7 liters per dunum is allocated for each irrigation.
The second case involves farmers who rely on artesian wells, as they receive 12 liters per dunam for each irrigation, due to the high consumption of engines operating on the wells.
Al-Ahmad added that following the government's decision to provide fuel oil at the subsidized price of 25 cents per liter, the technical teams in the Directorate of Agriculture have begun to carry out field sensory surveys on fields planted with wheat in various regions of the governorate, with the aim of documenting the source of irrigation and determining the actual areas cultivated for each farmer. Based on these rounds, the eligible areas were fixed and tables were organized that determine the amount of fuel oil allocated to each farm in accordance with the approved standards.
Al-Ahmad pointed out that the distribution process is still ongoing, and farmers are provided with their allocations successively according to the approved schedules, to ensure that the material reaches its beneficiaries on time and without delay, in support of completing irrigation operations before the start of the harvest season.
25 million liters for Deir Ezzor farmers
In Deir Ezzor province, Assistant Director of Agriculture Ibrahim Al-Arab explained that the distribution operations are limited to the irrigated wheat crop exclusively, and are implemented through a committee that includes representatives of the Directorate of Agriculture, a fuel company and the Farmers' Union, in order to ensure that the process is controlled and followed up in the field. Al-Arab explained to "Syrian News" that the committee studied the province's needs for agricultural fuel for this season, and its capacity is about 25 million liters of subsidized fuel oil intended for irrigated wheat.
He added that the committee prepared accurate nominal lists that included farmers and cooperative societies, with determining the quantities due to each of them according to the cultivated areas and the source of irrigation, before distributing them to the gas stations, which in turn rented the agricultural fuel oil allocated for this campaign.
He pointed out that the distribution operations are still continuing in several batches, as the first lung allocations are currently being distributed, to be followed by three additional installments, as there are three remaining lungs for the wheat crop before entering the harvest stage.
63 thousand hectares
In the same context, Al-Arab confirmed that the sensory detection and field survey committees have excluded from the eligibility lists the violating engines placed on government irrigation canals, in addition to the solar-powered engines, as they do not rely on diesel in pumping operations, and therefore do not fall within the categories covered by subsidized agricultural diesel.
Al-Arab explained that the area cultivated with irrigated wheat in Deir Ezzor province, which actually benefits from subsidized mazout, amounts to about 63 thousand hectares, after the fields of the liberated Jazira region joined the agricultural plan. This region is characterized by its vast land area and fertility, which led to raising the implementation rate of the Directorate of Agriculture plan for the current season to 70%.
He pointed out that before the liberation of the Jazira region, which lies north of the Euphrates River, the agricultural plan relied only on the lands of the Shamiya region south of the river, where about 22,000 hectares were planned to be cultivated, of which 14,500 hectares were implemented. He explained that these figures do not include rainfed agriculture, which is widely spread in the Jazira region, which benefited this year from a heavy rainy season witnessed in the governorate, which contributed to expanding the areas cultivated with wheat outside the framework of diesel irrigation.
Khalil Aqtini