The Autonomous Administration is looking for a solution to the issue. Farmers in Northern and Eastern Syria, where the economy is mostly based on agriculture, are satisfied with their crop this year, but suspicious fires that broke out in the region’s cultivated lands caused great damages.

Fires break out every day in dozens of locations and cause great damages to the farmers.
The fires that break out on cultivated land in the region turn the year’s labors to ashes in a matter of hours, while the region’s administration continues to take precautions. Kobane Canton Economy Committee Co-chair Xelil Shex Mislim spoke to the ANF and said they are focusing on all possibilities for the fires and that they are in the process of finding a solution.

Mislim said the yield this year was better than the last decade in the region and that all the land was cultivated: “I can say that this was the best harvest in recent years. We had 100% efficiency in 2019. Our people planted almost all the land this year.” Mislim said the farmers were content but the recent fires have turned thousands of hectares to ashes, and added that they are working to find a solution.

Mislim listed the reasons for the fires and stated that suspicions focus on cigarette butts for the fires in fields near roads and continued: “Our fuel is not good. So we suspect that the carbon in the car exhausts could also be a cause. There are also other fires caused by sparks in the cogs of the agricultural machinery.”

Mislim said the biggest suspicion is focused on some persons setting the fields on fire on purpose and that the security forces are running investigations and have increased their patrols in the area.

Mislim added that most of the haymaker owners work outside the canton and that the farmers are late to harvest their crops due to a shortage of haymakers in the region: “The crop in Cizire, Raqqa and Deir Ez Zor is harvested some 10 days before Kobane. Many haymaker owners went there to work for a while, so we allowed them, but now they haven’t returned and that leads to the crop remaining in the fields and increases the risk of fire.”

Mislim said they provided every haymaker owner with 3.000 liters of fuel but they chose to go work elsewhere. The canton then made another decision to fine haymaker owners if they didn’t return from outside the canton within 72 hours. Mislim said: “With this decision, we are not trying to invoncenience our people in other places. They are our people too. But we must consider this place. At least a number of haymakers must remain here.”

Kobane Canton Economy Committee Co-chair Xelil Shex Mislim said they are working on compensating the farmers who suffered damages due to the fires and added that the administration has decided to purchase all the crops from the people and that the farmers won’t be left with unsold produce.