Food production in Syria reaches record low, UN agency says

An assessment conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) showed that food production in Syria has hit a record low, as widespread insecurity and unfavourable weather conditions in parts of the country continued to hamper access to land, farming supplies and markets, a UN spokesman told reporters here Tuesday.

"After five years of conflict, the assessment says, many farmers have lost the ability to cope," Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

"Rising prices and scarcity of essential inputs such as fertilizers and seeds mean they will have no other option than to abandon food production if they do not receive immediate support," Haq said. "This will likely have grave consequences not only for the food security of farming households but also on food availability in the country, and may ultimately lead to further displacements."

"Agriculture was the main source of livelihood for rural households before the crisis and it is still producing to a certain extent, but it is stretched to the maximum and farmers have largely exhausted their capacity to cope," said Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, the FAO assistant director-general and regional representative for the Near East and North Africa.

Underlining the severity of the situation, the WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and East Europe, Muhannad Hadi, said, "The food security situation of millions of people inside Syria continues to deteriorate with more than seven million people classified as food insecure across the country having exhausted their life savings and no longer able to put food on the table for their families."

According to the two UN agencies, the area planted to cereals in the 2015-2016 cropping season is the smallest ever. Farmers planted an estimated 900,000 hectares of wheat in the last year, compared to 1.5 million hectares planted before the crisis.

Meanwhile, production registered an even more drastic decline, from an average 3.4 million metric tonnes of wheat harvested before the war to 1.5 million metric tonnes this year, a decrease of 55 percent.

In addition to the hardships caused by disrupted trade and markets and lack of availability of quality seeds, fertilizers, machinery and fuel, poor rainfall and the destruction of irrigation infrastructure have made matters worse for agriculturists trying to continue to produce food under adverse circumstances.

In some instances, farmers have also had to switch from cultivating valuable and nutritious crops to hardier but less nutritious ones such as barley, the agencies noted.

WFP and FAO further said that livestock producers are equally feeling the effects of the crisis, noting, "With the upkeep of their animals becoming ever more difficult and costly, many herding families have been forced to sell or slaughter their sheep, goats and poultry."

The fighting and resulting insecurity have also limited access to grazing land and water sources. Furthermore, while animal feed has become unaffordable for many pastoralists, stocks of animal vaccines and routine drugs are also running out. Enditem