Aleppo, Sept. 19 (SANA)Syria’s firstAleppo Pistachio Festivalopened Friday in the northern city of Aleppo, bringing together farmers and local producers in an effort to promote one of the region’s best-known agricultural products and expand its access to domestic and international markets.

Organized by theSyrian Agriculture Ministry, the two-day festival is being held at Khan al-Harir and Pistachio Square and runs through Saturday. The event provides a platform for direct interaction between producers and consumers while promoting farming, processing and marketing activities linked to Aleppo pistachios.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Mustafa Zakiya told SANA that the ministry supports events promoting agricultural production, particularlyAleppo pistachios, and is working on plans to develop the crop and strengthen its value chain from nurseries and farms to processing and exports.

Zakiya said greater cooperation between the public and private sectors, along with easier product certification, could help Syrian pistachio varieties reach wider international markets.

Farhad Khorto, a member of the Aleppo Governorate Executive Office, said the festival highlights a product closely associated with Aleppo’s heritage, culture and commercial and industrial history.

Adel Hawash, director of the Agriculture Ministry’s Aleppo Pistachio Office, said the festival was organized with support from Aleppo Governorate and the provincial agriculture and culture directorates to promote the product and strengthen its value chain.

Festival director, Mohammad Sameh Khairallah, said choosing the historic markets of Aleppo’s Old City for the event was intended to reconnect the product with an area historically associated with the pistachio trade.

The festival seeks to bring producers and consumers together while highlighting opportunities to develop the sector across farming, processing, marketing and exports.

Syria produced about 41,000 metric tons of Aleppo pistachios last season. Around 67,864 hectares are planted with pistachio trees nationwide, comprising about 10.5 million trees, of which roughly 8 million are productive.

Hama accounts for about 27,374 hectares of the planted area, followed by Aleppo with 23,516 hectares and Idlib with 11,126 hectares. Around 3,000 hectares are distributed across other provinces.