Cotton is considered a strategic crop in Syria and holds a significant position in the Syrian economy. Syria ranks the second globally in cotton production in area unit; it produces roughly 7 percent of the world's total cotton and comes the third in organic cotton production in Asia after China and Turkey. Cotton is a major agro-industrial product in the country and about 20% of Syrian population depends on cotton directly or indirectly, and it is generally grown in the northern region of Syria, while production reached about 600,000 tons in 2009. Bio-control is the most important component of cotton IPM in Syria. Many cotton pests natural enemies including parasitoids and predators are being mass produced and released in cotton fields every year, while several biological control laboratories have been established in different cotton growing areas in Syria. During the 38th Cotton Conference, recently held in Aleppo, participants called for finding new high-productivity species of cotton, and put emphasis on the significance of applying modern irrigation methods to reduce waste of water. Deputy of the Caretaker Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Nabi Rashid Mohammad pointed out that using biological control of blights has considerably increased as it covered 9, 0000 hectares last year, noting that the Ministry of Agriculture seeks to increase the number up to 40,000 hectares this year.
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