Global Food: "Food security crisis in Syria worsens due to fragile economic conditions"

The World Food Organization published a report on the ongoing food security crisis in Syria, with a rise in food insecurity rates despite a relative decrease in food prices. The report indicates that challenges related to food security in Syria will not diminish soon, but rather worsen due to fragile economic conditions, ongoing conflict, and climate change, necessitating urgent responses from humanitarian institutions and stakeholders in the international community to prevent the crisis from escalating. Between November 2024 and January 2025, the country experienced an early drought, limiting access to agricultural fields and reducing rainfall, leading to an expected decrease in cultivated areas and crops, thus reducing grain production in 2025. Rising prices of agricultural inputs like fuel and fertilizers have prompted farmers to switch to more profitable crops like cumin, caraway, black seed, and coriander, exacerbating the grain production crisis. Reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated grain production in Syria in 2024 at about 3.4 million tons, 13% lower than the five-year average and 33% lower than the pre-Syrian revolution average. The reasons for this decline include poor rainfall distribution during the season, high temperatures in April and May 2024, the spread of plant diseases, and high input prices. Despite the decline in local production, the FAO expects wheat imports to increase during the marketing year 2024/2025 (between July and June), surpassing the five-year average. However, ongoing economic fluctuations, currency devaluation, and internal disruptions are all factors hindering the country's ability to secure its wheat import needs in 2025. Estimates indicate that over half of the population suffers from food insecurity, including 9.1 million people in a state of acute food insecurity.