AANES’ Agriculture Board meets US Senior Representative to NE Syria
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Officials in the Agriculture and Irrigation Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) met on Monday the US Senior Representative to northeast Syria Nikolas Granger to discuss challenges facing food security in the region and ways to support agriculture sector and farmers.
Economy in northeast Syria is in continuous collapse due to high prices of food and key agricultural commodities, low levels of rainfall, and low production rates of grains which went below half of what was expected. All of this could cause food insecurity, according to a United Nations report published on June 5.
The AANES delegation conveyed to the US official all challenges facing the agricultural sector such as drought-related issues and difficulties implied in securing agricultural items, according to the AANES official website.
For his part, Granger pledged to work on programs to secure food security by looking for sustainable solutions and encouraging farmers to increase irrigated fields.
Agriculture in northeast Syria faces a number of challenges, the most notable of which are the drought that sweeps the region for the past two years and water reduction by Turkey of the Euphrates River since February 2020.