São Paulo – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has announced this Thursday (15th) that agricultural output in Syria should see a considerable decline. According to the organization, the civil conflict that has been dragging on since 2011 and a period of serious drought early this year have severely impacted the country’s main crops, wheat and barley, leading to further deterioration of the food insecurity scenario. <\/p>\n
In the case of wheat, for instance, the FAO believes output should be 1.97 million tonnes this year, down 52% from the average from 2000 to 2011. Planted area is down 15%. Crop yield, in turn, should be 1.5 tonne per hectare, way below the prior average of 2.4 tonnes per hectare. The winter crop should be harvested in the following weeks. <\/p>\n
According to the FAO, the situation leads to an increased need for food imports and an ensuing price hike. As of November 2013, the cost of cereals and other foodstuffs was 108% higher than in the same month of the previous year.<\/p>\n
The UN agency reports that rainfall declined by rates ranging from 55% to 85% from October 2013 through April 2014, and was scarcest in January and February.<\/p>\n
Still, the main reason for the lower output is the conflict, which leads to farmable land being abandoned, infrastructure and equipment being destroyed, power shortages, disruption of services and lack of resources required by the activity, undersupply, and rising inputs’ prices, among other serious issues. <\/p>\n
“The pressure continues to mount on displaced families and other vulnerable farmers, threatening long-term consequences for their food security, health and economic survival,” said the FAO representative in Syria, Eriko Hibi, according to a press release from the organization.<\/p>\n
The UN agency reports that it has distributed barley seeds to 29,000 farming families during the winter crop, and plans on supplying 50,000 in the upcoming crop. The goal is to enable each family to farm at least one hectare worth of cereals, which, according to FAO, is enough to feed a family for 12 months and produce a surplus to be sold on the market.<\/p>\n
The FAO reports that by the beginning of this month, 6.5 million people were internally displaced and 2.7 million Syrians had sought refuge in other Middle East countries. The organization claims it needs US$ 43.6 million this year to aid 135,000 families.<\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n