Volden påvirker landbruget indgående i det mellemøstlige land og mange landmænd har ikke kunnet dyrke deres marker samtidig med at priserne på drivstof til traktorer, pumper og andre maskiner er steget med raketfart.
BEIRUT, 24 July 2012 (IRIN) – The fields in the fertile al Ghab plain stretching across eastern Syria would normally be full of crops at this time of year, but this summer some are lying fallow (brak).
“The army has deployed in the fields, and there are checkpoints around our village,” said Muhammad al-Ashab*, a farmer in al Madeeq Citadel. “Sometimes the soldiers let us pass, sometimes they don’t.”
Some farmers, he said, have not been able to plant anything. Others suffered losses as their crops withered, either because they could not access them regularly, or they were lacking the means necessary to attend to them.
The violent conflict in Syria appears to be hampering agriculture.
Farmers are struggling with obstructions due to intermittent fighting as well as soaring prices of farming supplies and shortages of diesel. The fuel is needed not only for tractors and harvesters, but also for pumps to water the fields.
“Fertilizers and insecticides (sprøjtegifte) have become so expensive that people have had difficulties affording them,” said al-Ashab, adding: “Diesel is hardly available, and if we find any, we pay three times as much as we used to.”
As a result, the farmers in his village harvested only half of the usual amount of wheat this year. “Most families depend on farming, and now many are left with no income. We had to let go of all our workers on our farm because we couldn’t pay them any more,” he noted.
Differing assessments
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95943/SYRIA-Anticipating-a-hungry-winter
