Food & Agriculture

The U.N. World Food Programme announced on Monday the end of its general food assistance program in Syria from January onwards due to a shortfall in funding.

This season, Syria's olive crop is estimated at 711,000 tons, a 13 percent decline from 820,000 tonnes harvested last year, while olive oil production is forecast at 91,000 tons.

The Ministry of Finance's decision to withhold a SYP 562 billion loan to the General Establishment for Cotton Ginning and Marketing has led to acute delays in payments for cotton farmers.

Recent reports have sounded the alarm on the bleak water crisis that five million people in northeast Syria are facing. The roots of the water dilemma are entangled and protracted and the political instability in the northeast hinders efforts to design a comprehensive strategy to manage the dwindling water resources. 

Amid rising food insecurity levels and wheat shortages, the Syrian government has recently contracted with Russian suppliers for the import of 1.4 million tonnes of soft wheat, which is used to produce bread. The wheat harvest across the country has improved this year but still falls short of the local demand.

The chronic underfunding of Syria’s humanitarian operation has taken a darker turn this summer with cuts affecting 2.5 million people in Syria, and dozens of thousands in Jordan and Iraq.

The wheat sector is among the few to benefit from government investments as Damascus attempts to develop a strong supply chain.

The government hopes the restoration of ties with the Arab world will boost its aviation sector.

The Syrian government and the AANES expect the wheat harvest this year to be higher than in 2022, as local authorities compete to purchase the crop from farmers.

Over 100 days after the February 06 earthquake, the agricultural sector in Northwest Syria – where the vast majority of people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods – remains severely damaged, according to a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation. The sector has already suffered from conflict-related damages to infrastructure, irrigation, and inputs. 

The Syrian pound’s rapid freefall has pushed the AANES to price its grain procurement prices in dollars as it competes with the Syrian government to buy the local crop. 

Due to conflict-induced deforestation activities, perennial crop losses have reached up to USD 950 million, while some areas have reportedly lost up to 90 percent of their tree-covered areas, new report says.

Although Syria’s olive and olive oil industries were affected by the fallout of the 12-year conflict, the olive and olive oil industries appear to be making a steady recovery.

Syria’s wheat and barley crops are likely to decline this year for the third successive year due to small planted areas, climatic factors, and shortages in oil products and fertilisers, which have become chronic issues for Syria’s agriculture sector.

A Food and Agriculture Organisation project, which represents the first Russia-funded FAO project in Syria, has recently launched operations in Aleppo.

Syria’s cotton and olive harvests are forecast to be slightly higher this year, helping the government generate much-needed foreign currency. Meanwhile, olive and olive oil production has remained stable throughout the conflict.

Wheat and barley production has declined significantly across all of Syria for the second year in a row due to climate change, low water levels in the Euphrates River, and production input shortages, according to official data. This season's wheat production is 75 percent lower than pre-crisis volumes.

Amid record-high food insecurity in Syria, a Qatari charity recently inaugurated a silo complex in the town of Al-Rai, located in rural Aleppo, under the control of the Turkish-backed Syrian Interim Government.

Because of its economic and environmental impact, fishing by dynamite and electric shock is increasingly banned in Syria.

The government has re-issued a tender to purchase thousands of tonnes of fertiliser for the ninth time since last year, raising questions about the status of local production.