FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 04/00 - SYRIA (27 March)
Unfavourable weather at the beginning of the 1999/2000 cropping season, from October, was followed by adequate rainfall which provided ample moisture for a normal crop development. In some important grain producing areas of the north-east, rainfall levels during December and January were about three times the quantity during the same period last year. Prospects for the 2000 crops, to be harvested from mid- May, are, therefore, favourable and output is expected to improve on last year’s drought reduced harvest.
In 1999, barley production was about 380 000 tonnes, around 72 percent below the average of the last five years, while wheat production, at 2.74 million tonnes, was about 28 percent below average. The drought had also led to a significant increase in sheep mortality rates that seriously affected household incomes.
An Emergency Operation was jointly approved in October 1999 by FAO and WFP to assist 329 000 herders in the drought affected areas of the country for six months (October 1999 to March 2000), for a total cost of US$ 5.46 million.
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