Citizens in the city of Hajin, east of Deir ez-Zor, began cleaning and repairing irrigation canals belonging to agricultural cooperatives 15 days ago. Dozens of farmers and locals are jointly cleaning canals and areas that provide water to cooperative agricultural projects.

Farmers and locals are cleaning 7 main irrigation canals and a network of 40 irrigation canals that provide water to approximately 50 thousand acres of land in a collective way. In addition, roads in the areas where 7 agricultural cooperatives are working in agriculture are also being repaired in a communal manner.

So far, 65 percent of the irrigation canals, irrigation areas and repair work has been completed.

Wail Ebdulezîz participated in the collective work. He told ANHA that their aim is to store as much water as possible against drought.

Stressing the importance of solidarity and collective work, Ebdulezîz said that the work teams were cleaning and repairing the irrigation channels together, and added that some provided tractor support and others prepared food and supported the work.

Farmer Mihemed Nûr El Îbrahîm told ANHA: “The key to success is collective work. Cleaning the channels will provide better water to agricultural areas. This shows that the yield will be high during harvest time. The work is carried out on a voluntary basis. We carry out these works for agriculture with our relatives and friends without receiving any money. The people of Deir ez-Zor make their living by farming and raising animals."

Citizens in the Deir ez-Zor Canton irrigate most of their agricultural lands with water from the Euphrates River and the Xabûr Canal.

In the cities of Firat, Hajin and Susa in the east of Deir ez-Zor, irrigated agriculture is carried out on 286,400 acres. 27 percent of these areas are cultivated through cooperatives. In some areas, agriculture is carried out by individuals (private-licensed) supported by agricultural institutions.