Damascus - Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform and the Institute of Cooperation University (ICU) in Italy on Wednesday signed a memo of understanding (MOU) to increase areas planted with Rosa Damascena and develop local societies in Damascus Countryside, Deir Ezzor and Idleb governorates.
The memo aims at benefiting from the economic feasibility of Rosa Damascena with a total cost of USD 170,000.
Minister of Agriculture Dr. Adel Safar said the project came in the framework of rural development program and increasing the contribution of economic projects such as Rosa Damascena project.
The ICU Representative in the Middle East Jose Antonio Naya Villaverde said the ICU is ready to provide all technical assistance and agricultural techniques in the field of rural development and irrigation.
The MOU provides an initial evaluation of rose cultivation in the region and means of developing techniques of planting and harvesting, in addition to establishing experimental sites for conducting the research.
The memo also provides for benefiting from expertise in crop diversification and mechanism of improving rain-fed and irrigated agriculture to produce roses.
The project aims at evaluating the real potentials of Rosa Damascena cultivation as an alternative agriculture for farmers and women in the rural areas of Syria.
© SANA (Syria Arab News Agency) 2011
