FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 09/01 - SYRIA (10 September)
Three consecutive years of drought have severely affected crop and livestock production. Rainfall this year is reported to have been better than last year but pockets still remain where the rains were not enough to offset the moisture deficit in the soil.
In 1999 and 2000 a severe drought decimated cereal crops and led to a significant increase in sheep mortality rates that seriously affected household incomes. Latest reports put the 2000 wheat production at 3.1 million tonnes, about 15 percent above the previous year’s reduced crop but 9 percent below average. Barley production, which is almost entirely rainfed, is estimated at 213 000 tonnes, about 74 percent below the previous five-year average.