Syrian farmers in the country’s western coastal governorate of Tartous, formerly among the world’s top producers of tomatoes, have started their first tomato harvest of the year with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Before the conflict in Syria, Tartous farmers grew up to 1 million tons of tomatoes yearly for local consumption and export. However, many lost their farming capacity due to the crisis in Syria since 2011 that has forced over 9 million people into food insecurity.

FAO and WFP, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture’s Directorate of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, jointly launched a programme in early 2016 to restore agriculture-based livelihoods by rebuilding damaged greenhouses and providing tomato seeds and irrigation systems to the worst-affected farmers in Tartous governorate.