The worst drought in Syria decades pushes millions to the brink of the abyss

Wheat fields should be outside Seqalbia, near the Syrian city of Hama, golden and heavy with grains.

Instead, 40 dunums of Maher Haddad (10 acres) dry and empty, barely resulting in a third of its usual harvest.

“This year was catastrophic due to drought,” said 46 -year -old farmer, which reflects on the ground that cost him more than this.

Its fields delivered only 190 kg (418 lbs) of wheat per dunum – much less than 400-500 kg dependent on a normal year.

“We haven’t reviewed what we spent on agriculture,” Haddad told BBC.

With two teenage daughters to feed him, he is now borrowing money from relatives to survive.

The struggle of Mr. Haddad hesitated throughout Syria, with the worst drought in 36 years cutting wheat harvesting by 40 % and pushing to a country – where about 90 % of the population lives in poverty – on the lips of a wider food crisis.

A report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that Saraya will face a shortage of wheat 2.73 million tons this year, equivalent to the annual food needs of 16.25 million people.

Without more food aid or the ability to import wheat, the hunger crisis in Syria is scheduled to exacerbate greatly, according to Peru Thomaso Perry, the organization’s official in Syria.

“Food insecurity can reach unprecedented levels by late 2025 until mid -2016,” he said, noting that more than 14 million Syrians – six out of every 10 people – are already struggling to eat enough. Among these, he faces 9.1 million hunger, including 1.3 million in severe circumstances, while 5.5 million risks slip into a crisis without urgent intervention.

The same report showed that the rains had decreased by approximately 70 %, which led to a shell of 75 % of the agricultural land fed in the rain in Syria.

“This is the difference between the ability to stay in its societies or force them to migrate,” said Mr. Perry. “For urban families, this means the high prices of bread. For rural families, this means the collapse of their livelihoods.”

Agricultural families already sell livestock to supplement lost income from wheat, which reduces the number of daily meals, and there was a rise in malnutrition rates between children and pregnant women.

However, the impacts of drought exceed thousands of kilometers of arid agricultural lands.

Wheat is a basic crop in Syria. It is the main component of bread and pasta – two foodstuffs that should be low -cost foods for families. So with no wheat supply, the cost rises.

For a 39 -year -old widow, Sana Mahamd, carrying bread, has become a tremendous struggle.

With six children between the ages of twenty -nine, they depend on two wages, but their salaries are not enough to cover the basic expenses of the family.

“Sometimes we just borrow money to buy bread,” she said.

Last year, a SANA bread bag cost 500 Syrian pounds ($ 4.1; 3 pounds; 3.5 euros), but now 4,500 Syrian pounds. To feed her family, Sanaa needs two bags a day – at the account of 9000 pounds, before she represented any other food.

“This is very much. This is just bread, and we still need other things,” she said. “If the price of bread rises again, this will be a big problem. The most important thing is bread.”

The crisis constitutes a challenge to the interim president, Ahmed Al -Sharra, as his administration is working to rebuild Syria in the wake of the 14 -year conflict and remove former leader Bashar al -Assad in December 2024.

International agencies, such as the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), are accelerating, along with the government to provide bread subsidies for those at risk of facing severe food insecurity.

But relief officials warn that subsidies are nothing but a temporary solution, and that long -term stability for Syria depends on whether farmers can stay on their lands and maintain production.

“We are trying to keep people in the agricultural game,” said Marianne Ward, rural director of the basic work program in Syria. She gave $ 8 million (6 million pounds; 6.9 million euros) in direct payments to small farmers – about 150,000 people – who lost all their crops.

“If you will not earn money, you will leave the land. Then you will not have people who will work in the agricultural sector, which is necessary for the economy,” she said.

But after more than a decade of the war, the agricultural sector in Syria was already beaten due to the economic collapse, destructive irrigation systems, and the mined fields.

Dr. Ali Alewish, the agricultural director of the Deir Al -Zour region, the bread basket in Syria, said that wheat fields need to be irrigated from four to six times a season, but due to lack of rain, most farmers have not been able to keep up with this.

“The main concern of the farmer is to secure water first and the water requires fuel. The price of fuel has increased. It reached 11,000 to 12,000 Syrian pounds per liter.”

The high price of fuel and energy cuts meant that the water pumps were far -reaching, and many farmers were already burdened with debt.

Dr. Aloush says that a priority for its management and the transitional government in Damascus puts money in irrigation projects – such as solar powered drops – which will make water more possible for farmers.

But such projects take some time and money – wheat farmers do not have in the serpent.

So for millions of Syrians all over the country, there is only one thing that can be done in the coming months: pray for rain.

Additional reports by Lana Antaki in Damascus