Shadi Faskha^*(1)

(1) Tartous Agriculture Research Center, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), Damascus, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Dr. Shadi Faskha. Email: Shadifaskha5@gmail.com)

Received: 9/04/2021         Accepted: 27/09/2021

Abstract:

An Analysis study of the current agricultural practices implemented during 2018-2019 was conducted in citrus orchards in Tartous Governorate, Syria. Through a questionnaire for 370 farmers, the results obtained showed that 97.57% of farmers add organic fertilizers, and 71.35% of them carry out the pruning process. As for pests, citrus rust mites and Mediterranean fruit flies were the most important pests with 48.4% and 47.6% of the subjects, respectively. The results also showed that 68.6% of farmers use chemical control in their orchards, and 44.5% of them used broad-spectrum insecticides (abamectin, acetamprid, thiamethoxam, thiosyclam, dimethoate and deltamethrin) whereas 55.5% of them used (mineral oil, sulfur, and copper). The results showed that 89.5% of the farmers considered that the applied biological control program was successful. On the other hand, the obstacles facing the cultivation and production of citrus were: low prices, marketing problems, high production input prices, high transportation and fuel wages, and adverse environmental conditions 45.14%, 27.3%, 19.46%, 4.59% and 3.51% of survey respondents, respectively. However, farmer’s educational level played a positive role in some implemented practices.
Key words: Citrus, Agricultural practices, Farmer’s Knowledge.

Full paper in Arabic: pdf