The Syrian farmers need donors’ support now than ever, says the
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), NaijaAgroNet reports.
The United Nations Agriculture agency made this disclosure
in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet on Friday in Rome, noting
that with the war in Syria now approaching its sixth year, agricultural
production has plummeted and food supplies are at an all-time low, pushing
millions of people into hunger.
“FAO today called on governments to provide a boost in funding
targeted at helping farmers keep their lands in production to prevent the
situation from deteriorating even further,” part of the statement read.
The agency's appeal comes ahead of a 4 February
international donors' conference in London being convened by the United
Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations to mobilize support for
humanitarian work in Syria.
"The conflict has decimated the agriculture sector,
which has had a major impact on food supplies and markets. Currently over half
of Syrians remaining in the country are food insecure, with one in three people
unable to afford basic foods," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da
Silva.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that as national food production has
collapsed, food prices in Syria have soared with prices in some markets for
wheat flour and rice jumping by as much as 300 percent and 650 percent,
respectively, over the past 18 months.
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