Syrian Agriculture Minister attributes failure to sanctions, climate change, smuggling
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – On Tuesday, Syrian Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Hassan Qatna attributed the failure of plans of the Ministry of Agriculture in 2020 to “external factors beyond his ministry’s will.”
The minister’s speech came in conjunction with the new agriculture plan for the coming season released by the Damascus government to “limit cultivable areas, and gain agricultural production that guarantees food security, create new areas for production, reconsider support methods and complete the reform of irrigation networks.”
International sanctions and the economic embargo deprived them of the opportunity to purchase the needed quantities of fertilizers from abroad, in a statement to “Russian Federal News Agency”, he said.
Areas held by the Syrian government are suffering from severe shortage of wheat and floor despite all previous official statements which claimed that the government can secure the living basics, especially bread.
Additionally, climate change, which has become a strategic factor, affected crops as a result of the lack of rainfall during the current year, with more than 70% of cultivated lands suffering from water shortage, according to Qatna.
During the past years, the Syrian government resorted to international tenders to secure wheat, and in 2020 they bought 675 tons of wheat from Russia.
Meanwhile, Qatna stressed that smuggling agriculture production to neighboring countries worsened the condition in the government-held areas.