Key messages

• Some 6.5 million people are food insecure and a further 4 million are at risk – twice as many as last year – due to asset depletion to maintain food consumption.
• Within Syria, 6.3 million people are displaced, while 5.3 million have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. The continuing crisis has led to new displacements in northeast Syria (Ar-Raqqa and Deir-Ez-Zor governorates), as well as Hama, Aleppo and Idleb governorates.
• Families’ ability to cope is strained, leading them to reduce the number of meals per day and the amount of food consumed.
• People in besieged and hard-to-reach areas continue to report severe conditions as a result of limited humanitarian access. Some 2.98 million people in need were reported to be in hard-to-reach areas – including 419 920 people in besieged areas, the majority of whom are in East Ghouta.
• Better rains increased wheat and barley yields in 2017 and improved access to agricultural land in some areas.
• Herd sizes have stabilized albeit at low levels. However, widespread malnutrition of livestock, due to inaccessibility of pastures and limited availability of compound fodder, further risks this slight improvement.
• Markets are gradually recovering from full destruction. But market prices continue to burden Syrians, as food prices remain very high compared with previous years.