FAO calls for kick-starting Syrian agriculture

Conflicts in Syria have caused huge damage and losses to agricultural production, but the sector can and should be kick-started now, dramatically reducing the need for humanitarian aid and migration, said the UN Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) on Monday.

The words came in a nation-wide assessment of the impact of war on Syrian agriculture released by FAO, ahead of an international conference on Syria's future in Brussels.

The report which was named Counting the Cost: Agriculture in Syria after six years of crisis, presents the first comprehensive nationwide assessment of the damage of the war on the agriculture sector. The assessment included surveys of more than 3,500 households across Syria, interviews with more than 380 community groups and analysis of primary and secondary agricultural data.

FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said the survey showed that in the midst of conflict, agriculture provides a lifeline for millions of Syrians, including internally displaced people, still living in rural areas.

Ramping up investment in the recovery of the agriculture sector could dramatically reduce the need for humanitarian aid. It could also have a significant impact on stemming the flow of migrants, he added.

In addition to the severe human suffering, the conflict in Syria has caused more than 16 billion U.S. dollars of lost crop and livestock production and destroyed farming assets. About 6.3 billion dollars of the total is made up of damage and loss in crop production, around 5.5 billion dollars in the livestock sector, and almost 80 million dollars in the fisheries sector.

The initial cost of rebuilding the agriculture sector over a three-year period is estimated at between 10.7 billion and 17.1 billion U.S. dollars in total, depending on whether there is no change in the conflict, a partial return to peace or a full return to peace.

The report outlined a response plan under each of these possible scenarios, including addressing underlying issues such as sustainable water use for irrigation.

Basic supplies such as fertilizer, seeds and veterinary medicine for livestock are urgently needed. After those needs have been met, emphasis should shift to credit, processing and marketing support, and repairing critical assets such as irrigation infrastructure, according to the report.

The report also stated that if productive farming areas continue to be neglected, more people will be forced to leave rural areas and Syria will be in danger of emerging from the conflict as a country with its commercial food production and agricultural base on the verge of collapse.

Since 2011, FAO has supported the livelihoods and food and nutrition security of more than 2.4 million Syrians in rural and peri-urban areas of Aleppo, Al-Hassakeh, Dara'a, Deir-ez-Zor, Hama, Homs, Idleb, Rural Damascus, Sweida and Quinetra. Endit