Syrian Farmers Caught Between Grinding Conflict And Climate Change

This year’s wheat harvest ended quickly and with disappointment for Mahmoud al-Akhras, a farmer in the Ghab plain, in northwestern Syria.

“I spent a lot of money, even borrowing from my relatives, to continue planting wheat this year. I do not know how I will be able to pay off my debts and buy food for my children next year,” said Al-Akhras, who saw his June harvest fall from 500 kilograms to 100 kilograms per dunam (a unit of measurement that is roughly 1,000 square meters). Many farmers saw a decline in crop production.

Al-Akhras and others like him say that decades of conflict in Syria and climate change are to blame. And we can see the evidence all around the country.

Dashed hopes

Wheat is a staple food in Syria. Most of the population, especially in rural areas, depend on wheat for baking. Barley also declined, especially the Hama and Idlib governorates, which are mostly controlled by rebel groups, and where farmers say attacks by the Syrian government and its backer, Russia, have escalated in recent months.

Ayman al-Hassan, a farmer, said there has been good rainfall this year, saying “the rains continued from the moment of sowing and the spraying of fertilizers until the end of spring.” That caused many farmers to be optimistic that their crops would be profitable this year. And some hoped that they would rebuild their homes that had been destroyed in the war.

But the harvest did not meet their expectations, and was even “a bad harvest,” al-Hassan said, noting that his production was only 130 kilograms per dunam, down from an average of 450 kilograms.

“I hoped the harvest would allow me to buy school supplies for my children.”

“I bought some construction materials before the harvest to build the walls of the house that were cracked because of the war, and to restore the house in general. But the production was so low, it only covered part of my agricultural costs,” al-Hassan said. So he has stored the construction materials in the hope that “next year’s wheat crop will be better and that my family and I will be able to sleep in our home and stay warm.”

Umm Yasser rented her relative’s farm in Atarib, a town in the western countryside of Idlib province. A widow, whose husband was killed in a Syrian government attack five years ago, Yasser sold her gold bracelet and two rings to pay the rent (/dunam) and work the farm. She hoped that this year’s wheat production would help her earn a living for her children.

“I hoped that it would allow me to buy school supplies for my children,” she said. But the farm produced “only 4 tons from when it was supposed to produce 15 tons at minimum.”

More pests and diseases

Agronomist Alaa al-Shiraz said that the decline in wheat production in northwestern Syria was expected for many reasons, the first and foremost being climate change: “The high humidity and heavy rainfall, especially at the end of the season, resulted in the spread of rust diseases and other complications.”

Syria saw rainfall rates increase this year, especially in the spring. Metrological authorities recorded 778 mm this year in the Jisr al-Shughur area (in the Idlib Governorate), which includes the Roj plain area, compared to an average of 690 mm annually. The Ghab plain recorded 1860 mm compared to an average of 1460 mm annually. A rainfall rate of 52 mm was recorded on May 20, which coincides with the beginning of the harvest.

Moreover, warm winter allowed insects pests and rodents to reproduce and spread, said al-Shirazi.

Abandoning the farm

Khaled al-Moussa, a farmer in the Jisr al-Shughour area, said that he was not able to harvest due to the invasion of mice; he did not expect the low production would pay for the high cost of harvesting.

The situation was“frightening,” he said, also blaming the spread of field mice to the lack of snow and frost, as well as to the lack of appropriate pesticides to eliminate the rodents.

The impact of climate change in northwestern Syria was accompanied by the military escalation by the government forces, Russia and Iranian militias in the past months. Many farmers have been killed in government drone attacks in northwestern Syria. Farmers were forced to abandon their farms, especially those close to the front lines in areas separating government forces and rebels.