For over a decade, civil war between various state and nonstate groups has waged on in Syria, forcing many to migrate and seek shelter elsewhere. Others, choosing to stay put, have endured the consequences of bombed-out facilities and factories. Both populations, whether at home or in a displacement camp, have seen the conflict’s impact on diminishing food supplies.
According to the World Food Programme, 12.9 million people, including 7.2 million internally displaced persons, are food insecure, and 2.6 million people are at risk of hunger in the country.
“The root cause of food insecurity is the ongoing security situation since 2011 in northwestern Syria, which has led to the destruction of much infrastructure, especially agricultural facilities and those related to food security, such as bakeries, mills, and silos,” said Anas Almohammad, who was Food Security Cluster’s co-coordinator for the northwest Syria hub from 2018-2022.
The Food and Agriculture Organization puts the loss of production and damaged agriculture assets at $16 billion. An estimated $11 billion to $17 billion would be needed to kick-start the recovery.
“One can imagine that, especially after 13 years of being displaced, be it those who are in camps, or those who are within the host community, they have really exhausted all their own [means of] subsistence,” said Michel Saad, deputy director for the MENA region, operations and advocacy division at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
While the conflict is the major driver, WFP also attributes the damaged supply chains and lack of food to record levels of inflation, occasional earthquakes damaging crops, and a weakened domestic food system. The COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing war in Ukraine, which both had a global impact on the ability to access vital commodities such as wheat and oil, have also made the situation in Syria worse.
“Farmers face big challenges in obtaining essential inputs for agricultural production, which has greatly affected communities' ability to achieve self-sufficiency,” said Abdullah Alrajab, a field officer in Syria for humanitarian and development NGO Qatar Charity.
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