The worst drought of Syria for decades pushes millions at the edge

The wheat fields outside the seqalbie, near the Syrian city of Hama, should be golden and heavy with cereals.

Instead, the 40 dunums of Maher Haddad (10 acres) are dry and empty, which barely gives a third of their usual harvest.

“This year was disastrous due to the drought,” said the 46 -year -old farmer, reflecting on the land that cost him more to sow that he did not return to him.

Its fields only delivered 190 kg (418 lb) of wheat by dunum – well below the 400-500 kg on which it relies in a normal year.

“We have not recovered what we spent on agriculture; we have lost money. I cannot finance next year and I cannot cover the cost of food and drinks,” Haddad told the BBC.

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

Mr. Haddad’s struggle is resolved through Syria, where the worst drought in 36 years has reduced wheat harvest by 40% and pushes a country – where almost 90% of the population already lives in poverty – to the edge of a wider food crisis.

A report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that Syria will face a 2.73 million tonne deficit this year, the equivalent of annual food needs for 16.25 million people.

Without more food aid or the ability to import wheat, the hunger crisis in Syria should worsen dramatically, warned Piro Tomaso Perri, FAO main program manager for Syria.

“Food insecurity could reach unprecedented levels at the end of 2025 until mid-2010,” he said, noting that more than 14 million Syrians-six people out of 10-already find it difficult to eat enough. Among these, 9.1 million faces acute hunger, including 1.3 million in severe conditions, while 5.5 million risks slip into the crisis without urgent intervention.

The same report has shown that precipitation has dropped by almost 70%, paralyzing 75% of agricultural land in Syria.

“This is the difference between families who can stay in their communities or be forced to migrate,” said Perri. “For urban households, this means the rise in bread prices. For rural families, it means the collapse of their livelihoods.”

Agricultural families already sell cattle to complete the lost income of wheat, reducing their number of daily meals, and there has been an increase in malnutrition rates in children and pregnant women.

However, the implications of the drought extend far beyond thousands of kilometers of sterile agricultural land.

Wheat is a basic culture in Syria. It is the main ingredient of bread and pasta – two basic foods that should be low -cost food for families. So, with the lack of wheat supply, the cost increases.

For the 39 -year -old widow, Sanaa Mamid, offering bread has become a massive struggle.

With six children aged nine and 20, she relies on the salary of two sons, but their wages are not sufficient to cover the basic expenditure of the family.

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

Last year, a bag of bread cost 500 Syrian pounds ($ 4.1; £ 3. € 3.5), but now it’s 4,500 Syrian pounds. To feed his family, Sanaa needs two bags per day – an expense of 9,000 pounds, before representing any other food.

“It’s too much. It’s just bread, and we still need other things,” she said. “If the price of bread increases again, it will be a big problem. The most important thing is bread.”

The crisis is a challenge for interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, while his administration works to rebuild Syria following the 14-year conflict and the elimination of former Bashar al-Assad chief in December 2024.

International agencies, such as the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), rush to intervene alongside the government to provide risk subsidies with risky people to deal with severe food insecurity.

But assistance managers warn that subsidies are only a temporary solution and that Syria’s long -term stability depends on the question of whether farmers can stay on their land and maintain production.

“We are trying to keep people in the agricultural game,” said Marianne Ward, National Director of PAM for Syria. She worked to give $ 8 million (6 million pounds sterling; 6.9 million euros) in direct payments to small farmers – around 150,000 people – who have lost all their crops.

“If you are not going to earn money, you will leave the field. And then you will not have people who will work in the agriculture sector which is essential for the economy,” she said

But after more than a decade of war, the agricultural sector of Syria has already been beaten by economic collapse, destroyed irrigation systems and extracted fields.

Dr. Ali Aloush, the director of agriculture in the Deir Al-Zour region, the bread base of Syria, said that the wheat fields were to be irrigated four to six times a season, but due to the lack of rain, most farmers could not follow.

“The main concern of the farmer is first of all to obtain water and water requires fuel. The price of fuel has soared. It has reached 11,000 to 12,000 pounds Syrian per liter,” said Dr. Were.

The high price of fuel and electricity cuts meant that the water pumps were out of reach, and many producers were already overwhelmed by debt.

Dr. Were says that a priority for his department and the transitional government in Damascus put money in irrigation projects – such as solar drops – which will make water more accessible to farmers.

But projects like this take time and money – the luxury that wheat farmers do not currently have.

So, for millions of Syrians across the country, there is only one thing to do in the coming months: pray for rain.

Additional reports from Lana Antaki to Damascus