Miller Magazine Issue 107 / November 2018

38 MILLER / NOVEMBER 2018 NEWS War and drought reduces Syria’s wheat crop to lowest in 30 years Syria’s wheat crop this year was the smallest in three decades as war and drought cut production by around 30 percent, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said. Output of 1.2 million tonnes in 2018 was the lowest since 1989 and com- pared with a pre-crisis average of 4.1 million tonnes a year, FAO said. That puts pressure on the government as flat bread is a subsidized staple for Syrians, who have suffered under a conflict estimated to have killed several hundred thousand people and forced millions to flee their homes. The slump in wheat production this year occurred despite better access to agricultural land due to an im- proved security situation. Infrastructure has been bad- ly damaged after years of war combined with drought hitting bread-producing regions. Of the total wheat produced, government state grain buyer Hoboob is es- timated to have purchased only 250,000 tonnes. “There is a new dynamic in the country, as most far- mers in these situations will sell to those offering the hi- ghest prices and so some of the wheat is sold to private traders and some filters across the borders to Turkey and Iraq,” Adam Yao, deputy FAO representative in Syria, told Reuters. Syria used to produce upwards of 4 million tonnes in a good year and was able to export 1.5 million tonnes. The fall in output has put President Bashar al-Assad’s government under increasing pressure to import the grain. Syria’s Internal Trade Minister told Reuters in June that Syria planned to import around 1.5 million tonnes of mostly Russian wheat this year. A large part of Syria’s agricultural heartland in the north came under Islamic State control after the ult- ra-hardline jihadist group swept through the area and established a de facto capital in Raqqa.Islamic State has been driven back from its territory since 2017 but the damage caused by the war is still an obstacle. High production costs, lack of quality inputs and damaged or destroyed infrastructure remain the main constraints, the FAO said. “You have to consider that war basically is happening in the fields and so some- times farmers and other stakeholders have limited ac- cess to the fields and to agricultural inputs - put that together with inflation and locals cannot afford to buy,” Yao said. Syria’s wheat production dropped to a ne- ar-30-year low because of weather and conflict, according to a UN report. “Wheat production this year fell to a 29-year low of 1.2 million tons, about two-thirds of 2017 levels,” the UN’s Food and Agricul- ture Organization (FAO) stated. Syria used to produce upwards of 4 million tonnes in a good year and was able to export 1.5 mil- lion tonnes.