Kurdish-led authorities holding Syria’s breadbasket region will ban wheat from entering government territory in a bid to boost reserves, a Kurdish official told Reuters.
Salman Barodo, head of the region’s economy and agriculture board, said its 2019 wheat output would reach 900,000 tonnes.
Last year’s harvest yielded some 350,000 tonnes of wheat, he said, of which the Damascus government bought 100,000 tonnes, around 40 percent of what it bought from all of Syria.
Kurdish fighters and their allies control about a quarter of Syria, the largest chunk outside regime hands.
According to Reuters, the area is rich in oil, water, and farmland - leverage for Kurdish leaders, though their attempts to negotiate with Damascus to safeguard their autonomy didn't see any progress.
Three provinces which account for nearly 70 percent of the country’s wheat production lie mostly in the hands of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurdish YPG.
While the SDF tried to exert pressure on Damascus, Kurdish officials said this did not prompt the new decision.
“We will not allow any grain of wheat to get out” this year, Barodo said in an interview in Qamishli city.
“We need it for seeds and flour. This is a decision to secure the livelihood of our citizens,” he stressed.
Under pressure from farmers, authorities backtracked from a move to ban selling wheat to anyone else including Damascus, Reuters reported.
Locals can still sell to the government at the meantime, but security forces at the crossings will stop traders or state workers from trucking the grain out if it comes to that.
They will also try to prevent smuggling after harvesting starts this summer, Barodo said without elaborating.
The Syrian agriculture ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Badran Jia Kurd, a senior Kurdish official, said the move to keep wheat in the region is part of a plan to collect enough strategic stock for two years ahead.
“It is not a political decision to impose a siege on Damascus, not at all,” he said in response to questions from Reuters.
“It is a decision to keep the harvest of the region for local consumption.”
Damascus raised the price it pays for a tonne of wheat to 185,000 Syrian pounds ($359.22) this year, while the price in the SDF region dropped to 160,000 which angered local farmers.
