Wheat shortage in Syria risks severe hunger for millions
Up to three million people in Syria are at risk of severe hunger due to a harsh drought, according to The Arab Weekly plus agencies on August 19th.
The United Nation’s World Food Programme warns this figure could be reached due to the worst drought experienced by the country in 36 years, which has reduced wheat production by approximately 40%.
Over half of Syria’s population is currently food insecure, it added, with Syria’s transitional government in a weak position to provide economic security for its people.
Whilst President Ahmed Al-Sharaa has been on a charm offensive in his foreign policy activities, sealing key investment deals with Saudi Arabia relating to reconstruction, public transport and real estate projects, the government has been less active in big grain purchases.
The new government has purchased 373,500 tons of wheat from local farmers this season, according to a Syrian government official. That is approximately half of last year’s volume.
According to this official, the government needs to import around 2.55 million tonnes this year to mitigate the food insecurity that plagues the conflict-hit nation.
Damascus has so far relied on small private shipments amounting to around 200,000 tons in total through direct contracts with local importers.
The nation consumes around four million tonnes of wheat annually, but domestic production is expected to fall to around 1.2 million tonnes this year according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
Syria has already felt the impact of this major drought, with the coastal region suffering from wildfires which swept across the country’s dwindling green space.
Likewise, the risk of food insecurity comes amid deep instability caused by ongoing sectarian violence in Syria’s Sweida province, with Syria’s government struggling to use its foreign policy to harmonise the diverse communities that inhabit Syria, and most importantly, keep them safe.
Abbas Othman, a wheat farmer from the northeastern Hasaka province in Syria’s breadbasket region, did not manage to harvest a single grain.
“We planted 100 donums (six hectares) and we harvested nothing.”
Pre-civil war, Syria produced up to four million tonnes of wheat in good years and was able to export around one million.
Despite the lifting of economic sanctions on Syria by US President Donald Trump, his subsequent tariffs on middle eastern nations like Syria has the potential to further disrupt Syria’s trade, meaning both domestic and international supplies of grain for Syria could regress further.
The Arab Weekly plus agencies, Maghrebi.org
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