The olive harvest has begun in Northern and Eastern Syria. Olives are harvested in the autumn after the first rain. Farmers in the Firat canton are very worried due to the ongoing attacks by the Turkish army.
Meryem Mihemed, a farmer from the village of Bûban near Kobanê, has already started harvesting in her olive grove. She has 600 olive trees. This plantation is enough to support a family. However, this year’s yield is lower, she told ANHA.
Olive trees can be harvested every two years. Therefore, strong and weak harvests always alternate. This year should actually be able to have a good harvest. But due to the storms in the spring, the blossoms of the olive trees were torn off and only a few blossoms survived.
“Because of the attacks, we cannot harvest our olives”
The olive plantations in the Kobanê region are often located near the Turkish border with Northern Kurdistan. Due to the proximity to the border, Turkish soldiers prevent people from entering the plantations. Meryem Mihemed’s field is also located in such an area. Mihemed told ANHA that people do not dare to go to their fields for fear of their lives. The constant Turkish artillery shelling is putting massive pressure on farmers and is aimed at forcing them to migrate.
