Drought blights Syrian villages, residents dying of hunger
DAMASCUS, Syria, January 27, 2010 (ENS) – A severe shortage of rainfall that has lasted more than three years has crippled agriculture in northeastern Syria, where residents say conditions are still deteriorating in the absence of economic alternatives and an adequate government response. People’s living conditions in the area are dire, said Ahmad al-Salem, an agricultural engineer who lives in a village close to the town of Qamishli. He said that most of his fellow villagers have moved to Damascus or other big cities looking for new sources of income, many ending up with difficult laboring work. … Today, many northeastern villages are half-deserted with closed-down schools and abandoned houses and land. Traditionally, the northeastern provinces, a region rich in rivers, contained some of Syria’s most fertile agricultural lands where wheat, cotton, vegetables and fruits have been grown. “Agriculture is the backbone of the economy here,” said an official at the ministry of agriculture, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added that the lack of rainfall affected the whole national economy since 30 percent of Syrian agricultural land is in the northeastern Jazeera province. Observers say that the drought, coupled with poor irrigation strategies, has led to the impoverishment and displacement of large numbers of the area’s inhabitants. Some 1.3 million people have been affected by the disaster, of whom 800,000 have lost almost all of their livelihoods and face extreme hardship, according to the Syrian government and United Nations assessment missions. Migration out of the affected areas has increased, with estimates indicating that between 40,000 and 60,000 families have relocated, the UN says. Like many people in Jazeera, Mohamad al-Sheikh, his wife and three daughters survive on the small remittance sent by his two sons who work in a factory in Damascus. Although Sheikh owns farmland in the small town of Tal Hamis, very little grows since the drought hit the area. “I had a piece of good agricultural land but the scarcity of rainfall made it barren,” he said, adding that without the monthly remittance of 5,000 Syrian liras (US$110), his family would “probably succumb to illness and hunger.” … “It is no exaggeration to say that people are dying from hunger here,” said an official of the ruling Baath party from a village in the Jazeera area. …
