Food & Agriculture

Baladna Syria, a company fully owned by Qatar’s Baladna, has begun developing a USD 3.3 billion agricultural and food-processing project covering around 2,400 square kilometres in Syria, mainly in Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor. The project encompasses  the cultivation of crops such as wheat, cotton and sugar, as well as processed products including textiles and dairy products The company, owned by the influential Syrian-Qatari Khayyat family, is also considering purchasing land directly from owners in several  regions around the country.

Growing participation by regional companies at this year’s Food Expo underscored increasing foreign interest in Syria’s food industry, especially from Emirati investors who inked two investment deals. The expo highlighted the tension between the need to attract foreign investment and calls for protection from local manufacturers over the inflow of foreign produce.

An unusual rise in water levels in the Euphrates River during the final week of May has developed into one of the most significant water-related emergencies witnessed in northeastern Syria in recent years. The sudden increase affected thousands of families across the Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor governorates, flooded agricultural land, disrupted water services, damaged transport infrastructure, and exposed longstanding weaknesses in flood preparedness and riverbank management.

The Syrian Investment Authority has issued Decision No. 3 and No. 4, dated 29 April 2026 (see Official Gazette No. 20), granting an investment licence for two major industrial projects. The first one is a food industries project located in Rural Damascus, while the second is a cement production project in Tartous.

The wheat sector in Syria recorded a relative improvement during the 2026 season in terms of production and cultivated areas, driven by better rainfall and the return of agricultural land to the production plan. However, the country still relies heavily on imports to bridge the demand gap, amid continued dependence of local output on climatic conditions and government pricing and support policies.

During the Eid Al-Fitr celebrations last Friday, Syria’s Transitional President Ahmad Al-Sharaa announced that the country’s GDP grew between 30 and 35 percent in 2025 and projected that this year GDP will return to pre-conflict levels. In parallel, the Minister of Finance, Mohammad Yusr Barniya, announced that the 2026 budget totals USD 10.5 billion, a stark increase from the USD 3.5 billion budget from last year. Neither Mr Sharaa, nor Mr Barniya, explained the methodology used to produce these numbers. The GDP data, in particular, appears particularly disconnected from reality.

Nearly one year after the formation of the Syrian transitional government, the Minister of Agriculture,Amjad Badr, outlines the current state of food security, agricultural production, highlighting both modest improvements and persistent structural challenges. The minister also elaborated on the reforms adopted by the government.

With the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran entering its fourth week and no end in sight, some observers argue that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz could position Syria as an alternative gateway for oil flows from Iraq and food supplies towards the Gulf countries. However, analysts estimate that the negative impact of the regional war on the Syrian economy is likely to outweigh any positive spillover effects. 

The Ministry of Agriculture issued Decision No. 191 at the end of 2025 (See Official Gazette, Issue No. 3 of 2026) setting the legal framework for the import, production and export of agricultural pesticides.

As of mid January, rainfall levels across the country have exceeded half of the annual average, with some areas recording totals four to five times higher than last season.

The Syrian sugar sector stands as a textbook example of the broader economic collapse caused by the conflict that has gripped the country since 2011. Syria, once considered one of the region’s prominent agricultural producers and a country that cultivated sugar beet crop (sugar beet), has been transformed into a state that is almost entirely dependent on sugar imports. This transformation has created a massive gap between domestic supply and demand, turning sugar from a locally produced staple into a commodity whose availability and price are dictated by external markets and import dynamics.

Facing an unprecedented agricultural crisis, the Ministry of Agriculture has launched the “Benevolent Loan” (Al-Qard Al-Hasan) initiative, an interest-free, in-kind credit facility providing essential seeds and fertilisers to farmers, initially those growing wheat, that will prioritise a shift towards irrigated farming over rain-fed lands.

As the 2025 cotton harvest season draws to a close in the territories administered by the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES), farmers in the region face mounting challenges. Cotton, traditionally planted in April and harvested in September, has long held an important place in Syria’s agricultural history. However, this year’s purchase price set by AANES of USD 600 per metric tonne - the same as in 2024 - has stirred resentment among producers struggling with rising costs and difficult climatic conditions.

The Syrian government’s purchase of wheat from its farmers is at its lowest volume in decades, which pushed it to raise its procurement prices to up to twice global levels.

Syria is facing one of the most severe food security crises in its modern history, as an acute drought in 2025 threatens to decimate the domestic wheat harvest, traditionally a cornerstone of the country's agricultural output. A source at the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed to The Syria Report that the ministry is considering abandoning support to wheat cultivation.

On a cold January afternoon, only a handful of farmers were cultivating the land in Deir Makir: most of the farmland in this village in southern Syria is barren because farmers are grappling with minimal rainfalls levels and an array of economic challenges. Local farmers expressed relief about the fall of the Assad regime, and the end of an era marked by blackmailing, corruption practices, and shortages of agricultural inputs, but remained cautious about the economic prospects ahead, and called on the caretaker government to adopt protectionist measures in the agriculture sector.

The Syrian caretaker government has increased bread prices for the second time since the fall of the regime, a move that could have dire consequences for Syrians, who have seen little improvement in their economic situation despite the government's repeated promises, two months after the ousting of the Assad regime.

The Syria government is, theoretically, pushing farmers to switch to modern irrigation techniques, but financial constraints and bureaucratic obstacles are hindering the process. Only around 18 percent of Syria’s irrigated areas use modern water-saving techniques, official data suggest.

After years of decline, cotton production is forecast to increase slightly this year and reach between 100,000 and 125,000 tonnes. However, the future of the industry looks grim, according to most analysts.

The Syrian government has recently terminated its long-standing partnership with Saeb Nahas, the owner and head of the Nahas Group and one of Syria’s few prominent businessmen belonging to the era of Hafez Al-Assad who are still active.