Cultivation Areas
Syria, with around 900 thousand tons, is a significant tomato producer.
Tomato production is extremely important to farmers in Syria as an important source of income due to its high productivity and relatively low cost. Moderate temperatures in Syria allow growers to produce tomato in open fields. Also, due to the mild climate in the coastal area, unheated greenhouses can be used, although climate control is widely practiced. These covered tomato plantations are important for export earnings. Tomato production is one of the fastest growing crops in Syrian horticulture; it increased more than 30% through 1994-2003 (from 426KT to 923KT).
In 2003, approximately 17.1 thousand hectares were seeded (14.3 thousand hectares in open field and 2.8 thousand hectare in greenhouses). This is actually a lower surface figure than in the past, but increased efficiency of production has compensated, especially since more tomatoes are being grown in greenhouses, while they have sharply declined in open fields.
For climatic reasons, Tartous and Lattakia are the dominant producing regions during the winter months. Together, they supply as much as 98.6% of protected tomatoes. Open field tomato is cultivated all over Syria, but it is concentrated in Dara’a, Aleppo, Al-Hassaké, and Quneitra.
Main Varieties
There are a number of varieties cultivated in Syria. However, the mostly common include: Sunrise, Shady lady, Shaheen, Supper Queen, Variety 777, I S 55, Golden landside, Robest, CPC-2, Sion x, Marmand, and Claudia Ref.. The most important varieties cultivated inr greenhouses are: Speedy hybrid, Katia, Amazon, Alona, and Florence. The most important tomato processing varieties are; Sunrise, Speedy, Syring, and Supper red.
