Climate change, conflict severely shrink grain crop in Syria – FAO
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Tuesday that the climate change, a faltering economy and residual security issues have decimated Syria’s 2022 grain crop, leaving the majority of its farmers in a precarious position.
“Syria’s 2022 wheat harvest amounted to around 1 million tons, down some 75% from pre-crisis volumes, while barley was almost non-existent.” Mike Robson, FAO’s Syria Representative said.
The irregular rainfall in the past two seasons has reduced Syria’s wheat crop amount, which was estimated around four million tons annually pre-war, a quantity that was sufficient to feed its people as well as to export to neighboring countries in favorable conditions.
Now, and after more than a decade of conflict, farmers struggle harsh economic and security conditions while trying to cope with changing weather conditions.
The meager harvest weights more pressure on the sanctioned Syrian government facing great deal of troubles getting wheat from international market.
Banking restrictions and asset freezes made it very difficult for the trading companies to deal with the Syrian government. Food shipments are not subjected to Western sanctions though.
All attempts of the General Establishment for Cereal Processing and Trade, the state’s main grain buyer, failed to obtain international import bids, while most of the wheat shipments came from Russia, Damascus-close ally.
What made the situation even worse is global wheat prices rise since February, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine which halted grain exports from the Black Sea for months.
“Climate change isn’t easy anyway but it is doubly not easy in a place like Syria with high inflation, no power, no good quality inputs and some residual security issues that are still playing up in parts of the country,” Robson said
Since irrigation systems collapsed, due to the war, which eventually led the bulk of the wheat crop in Syria to depend on rainfall in a range reached up 70 percent.
However, the harvest was around only 15 percent comparing to what farmers expected in the rain-fed wheat-growing areas.
Robson pointed out that “When the rain fell it was concentrated and it didn’t follow traditional patters.”
“A late start to the rainfall meant that farmers were delayed in planting and they couldn’t prepare their land in time and then the rains finished early by March.” He added
Wheat planting season in Syria is between November and December, and the harvest season is between May and June.
The Syrian economy is also reeling under the weight of the complex and multilateral conflict that has entered its twelfth year.
The collapse of the Syrian pound led to an increase in the prices of good quality fertilizers and seeds, as well as the fuel needed to operate water pumps
In normal conditions, one hectare of irrigated and cultivated wheat yields between three to four tons, but currently it produces only about two tons, with farmers struggling to access basic agricultural inputs.