Rome | Thomson Reuters Foundation — Syria’s six-year conflict has caused at least US$16 billion in damage to agriculture — about a third of the country’s GDP — a U.N. agency said on Monday, calling for more funds to salvage local food production as millions go hungry. Fighting has led to extensive crop and livestock […] Read more
Tag Archives syria — page 2
Syrian agriculture faces US$16 billion bill from conflict
Food production in Syria reported at all-time low
Geneva | Reuters — Food production has dropped to an all-time low in Syria where millions of hungry civilians are struggling through their sixth winter in a war zone, United Nations agencies said Tuesday. Many farmers have had to abandon their land, unable to afford the soaring cost of seeds, fertilizers and tractor fuel, the […] Read more
Russia-Turkey tensions stymie new wheat deals
Reuters — Political tension between Russia and Turkey has put a brake on new wheat deals between the two countries and created uncertainty about existing agreements, traders said Thursday. Relations between Russia, one of the world’s largest wheat exporters, and Turkey, the largest buyer of Russian wheat, have quickly deteriorated after Turkey shot down a […] Read more
Syria needs more wheat, despite healthy harvest
Abu Dhabi | Reuters — Syrian farmers enduring a fifth year of civil war have sold less wheat to the state than last year despite a better harvest and higher offer price, leaving a large shortfall to be made up with imports complicated by western sanctions. President Bashar al-Assad’s government has lost control over many […] Read more
Syrian war spurs first withdrawal from doomsday seed vault
Oslo | Reuters –– Syria’s civil war has prompted the first withdrawal of seeds from a “doomsday” vault built in an Arctic mountainside to safeguard global food supplies, officials said Monday. The seeds, including samples of wheat, barley and grasses suited to dry regions, have been requested by researchers elsewhere in the Middle East to […] Read more
Fighters target vital water facilities across Middle East
Geneva | Reuters –– Fighters are increasingly targetting water and sanitation facilities across the Middle East, exacerbating severe shortages for agriculture and households, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday. Consumption of water in the volatile region with rising populations was already at unsustainable levels in many areas hit by record-low […] Read more
Syria air raid on cattle market kills at least 27, monitor says
Amman | Reuters –– At least 27 people were killed and dozens wounded on Tuesday by a Syrian air raid on a cattle market in territory controlled by the hard-line Islamic State, a monitoring group said. The raid hit the main livestock market in Khansaa, a village south of the Kurdish-held city of Qamishli in […] Read more
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