Socio-economic characteristics of the interviewed farmers

The aggregated statistics regarding to the socio-economic characteristics of the wheat-cotton farmers are represented in Table 5.1. One way ANOVA was employed to test the differences between farmers’ socio-economic characteristics in the three zones included in the study. The Levene-Test shows that the homoscedasticity cannot be assumed; hence the T2 test (Tamhane) was chosen for a post-hoc multiple group comparisons. This test offers the same results as the conservative Bonferroni-Test if the variances are homogeneous and enable pair-wise comparisons on the grounds of a t-test (SPSS 2003; Backhaus et al. 2008).

Almost 62% of the farms were under a private ownership type. Land reform reached the highest share of land ownership in zone 3 (𝜌< 0.001). This suggests more restrictions in zone 3 regarding land assignment procedure as submitted by Laws of 1958 (see section 2.3.4).

The average farm land of the farms was 26.54 ha. Due to family collective operation, two farms which had over-size (1000 and 700 ha) were excluded from overall calculated averages. The minimum farm size included in the questionnaire was 3 ha, thus the study survey sample met the threshold size (1 ha) needed to include the farm into the state annual plan (see section 2.3.3). The result showed that farm land increase by the movement from zone 3 to 1. The same trend was observed for following items as well: Diversification of farm activities, crops’ diversification, wheat yield, cotton yield, and bank loans.

Poultry and animal husbandry were the most diversified activities noticed in the study area. Watermelon, maize and legume varieties such as lentils, broad bean and chickpea were observed in zones 1 and 2, while barley was preferred in the third one. Corresponding to average rainfall differentiation, the lowest percentage of farmers who cultivated rain-fed wheat (in addition to irrigated one) was found in the zone 3 (𝜌< 0.05). Obtaining bank loans varies among wheat-cotton producers based on many aspects, particularly the commitment to Islamic doctrines which prohibit loans’ interest rates.

As discussed in section (2.3.3), cotton license’s percentage is changeable by the annual agricultural plans. During study years (2009-2011), cotton licenses were governmentally submitted as 20% of total farm land in zone 1 and 17% in zone 2 and 3. The result showed

that the farmers at the study sites were not committed with state licenses. The highest share of offenders was observed in zone 3 (85.2%) with significant differences in comparison with other zones (𝜌 < 0.001). This suggests that farmers in zone 3 tend to support their farm income by over-cultivation of cotton more than by reliance on farm business diversification.

Usage of Modern irrigation techniques (sprinkler and drip) was out of the ordinary mechanism in wheat-cotton area. Only six farmers adopted such a technique. Actually, modern irrigation is a new instrument in Al Hasakah region, thus its consequences are unclear so far. Wheat-cotton producers imagine it as a charged matter due to its construction and maintenance cost.

Around 79% of overall farmers had graduated with a primary education, while about 4% were illiterate. The highest share of higher educated farmers was revealed among those in zone 3. In that context, farmers’ personal experience was the most important knowledge resource to make their farm-decisions. However, 19.4% of them relied on scientific materials such as agricultural textbooks and magazines, universities and scientific centers.

The age group distribution indicates that 31% of the farmers of the whole studied area were 40-49 years old. The largest group of youngest farmers (30-39 years old) was noticed in zone 3 (40.7%), while the largest group of old farmers (50-59 years old) was located in zone 2 (37.5%). Regarding the farmers’ leadership, the interviewed operators were distributed as farm managers (58.3%), farm successors (36.9%), and farm partners (4.8%). Almost 18% of the farmers earned income by non-farm jobs. Family labour was observed as the main labour force in the wheat-cotton farms. 92% of the farmers said that “our family’ members very frequently participate in farm activities”. This corresponds with Ondersteijn et al. (2006) who reported that in many cases farm business looks like a family business.

Table 5.1: Socio-economic characteristics of the Syrian wheat-cotton farmers, (n=103)

a,b,c: Different letters in a row indicate significant differences between different zones Variables significant at P^*≤0.05, P^**≤0.01 and P^***≤0.001

ns: not significant

Source: Own elaboration using survey data

5.1.2. Pistachio farm

Table 5.2 offers a general overview of the different socio-economic characteristics of pistachio producers. In order to offer some comparison insights of the farmers’ characteristics between the two related agro-ecological zones, 𝑡-test was employed.

The results show that all interviewed pistachio operators fulfilled the land assignment procedure. Thus, all studied farms were under private ownership. Modern irrigation, particularly sprinkler irrigation, was the prevailing irrigation method in the all studied farms.

Pistachio farmers were more committed to Islamic doctrines which prohibit loans with interest rates than those in the wheat-cotton sample. Therefore, none of the interviewed farmers relied on bank loans.

The average farm land of the overall farms was 8.5 ha. Farm activity diversification showed a low percentage (16.2%) in comparison to that for crop diversification (73.3%) of the total sample farms. The highest share of crop diversification was noticed in zone 1 (88.5%). The distribution of crop diversification between the operators in both zones was significantly different (𝜌< 0.001). Poultry and animal husbandry were the most frequently implemented diversification activities adopted in the study area, while olive, grape, fig and almond were commonly noticed in pistachio farms together with intercropping potato, vegetables and sugar beet. All pistachio trees in the studied farms were under the fruition stage; average trees age was 25.8 years with average yield 1.37 tons/ha.

Syrian pistachio is classified as a supplementally irrigated crop which requires one irrigation operation during the summer season. However, due to severe dry winters the need of multi-irrigation has increased. 19% of the farmers still run their pistachio as a supplementally irrigated crop; most of them were concentrated in zone 1. Wells were the main water resource that the farmers relied on. However, the results show that only 45.7% of the total observed operators had their own wells. This indicates that a high share of cooperation regarding the irrigation operation.

Pistachio farmers were more educated than those of the wheat-cotton sample, about 57% of overall producers had achieved higher education. Furthermore, illiterate farmers were not present in the sample. Similarly, reliance on scientific materials in order to build a farm decision was recorded at a considerable percentage of 32.4%.

The age group distribution indicates that most of the farmers (31%) were 30-39 years old. A notable share of old producers (>60 years; 19%) was also found. Leadership distribution was quite similar to the wheat-cotton farmers, including farm managers (58.1%), farm successors (37.1%), and farm partners (4.8%). As well, family labour was detected as the main labour force in pistachio farm business. Differently to the wheat-cotton operators, a high percentage of pistachio farmers had non-farm job. This may be attributable to their high education level which enables them to easily find another job.

Table 5.2: Socio-economic characteristics of the Syrian pistachio farmers, (n=105)

Source: Own elaboration using survey data

Variables significant at P^*≤0.05, P^**≤0.01 and P^***≤0.001 ns: not significant