International pledging conference aims to raise billions for Syria and neighbouring host countries.

Rome – Some $121 million are  urgently needed to prevent further deterioration of the food security situation and the collapse of regional food chains amidst the ongoing crisis in Syria, which has severely disrupted agricultural production and trade and left some 9.8 million people food insecure, FAO said today.

“We need to provide additional assistance to farmers to help them rebuild agricultural infrastructure and livelihoods, or we will see the food security situation continue to worsen,” said Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa.

The Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, which will take place in Kuwait City on 31 March, presents an opportunity to raise critical funds to strengthen agricultural production in communities across Syria and neighbouring countries. 

Now in its fifth year, the Syria crisis has displaced more than 11 million people, of whom close to 4 million have fled to neighbouring Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Some 85 percent of these refugees have settled outside of camps – many in rural areas where agriculture is the livelihood of the poorest families.

In Syria itself, some 50 percent of livestock have been lost and the cereal harvest has dropped by half since the beginning of the crisis in 2011 due to conflict escalation and adverse weather.

Along with growing pressures on resources like water and land, the movement of people and livestock has also raised the risk of animal and plant diseases spreading across borders within and beyond the region. This is in part due to the collapse of the veterinary services in Syria, which has left thousands of animals unvaccinated.

Boosting agricultural production is essential to ensuring a steady food supply in Syria and the subregion, which has seen an increase in food prices that is particularly affecting the 75 percent of Syrians currently living in poverty.

Read more: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/282009/icode/