Climate crisis: Syrian farmers suffer from scorched earth and sandstorms – in pictures

Severe drought and rising temperatures has forced farmers to abandon crops to feed animals

Shepherds tend their sheep in a dry wheat field during a sandstorm on the outskirts of the city of Tabqa, in Syria. All photos: AFP

Wheat fields are drying to a crisp because of severe drought and low rainfall in the once-fertile region in Syria's north-east.

Farmers whose crops have been scorched by the heat now rely on income from other farmers, who use their fields to graze animals.

Before the war that erupted in 2011, Syria's wheat production was enough to meet local demand.

Harvests have plunged to record lows, leading to increased dependence on imports especially from key government ally, Russia.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation says the 210,000 tonnes of wheat grain produced in Hasakeh province during the 2020-2021 winter cropping season were only 26 per cent of the previous year.

Arid land during a sandstorm in the countryside of Tabqa.

Syria is among the countries most vulnerable and poorly prepared for climate change, which is forecast to worsen, posing a further threat to the wheat harvests that are an essential income source for a war-battered population.

This aerial view shows shepherds guiding their sheep in a dry field in the countryside of the city of Tabqa in Syria's Raqqa governorate, on June 2, 2022. - Syria is among the countries most vulnerable and poorly prepared for climate change, which is forecast to worsen, posing a further threat to the wheat harvests that are an essential income source for a war-battered population. The trend is most evident in Syria's once-fertile northeast where wheat fields are drying to a crisp because of severe drought and low rainfall, challenges also faced by Iraq and other neighbouring countries. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

By 2050, temperatures are expected to be at least 2°C higher while precipitation falls by 11 per cent, iMMAP says.

Children watch as a shepherd guides his sheep during a sandstorm on the outskirts of Tabqa.

The low harvest in 2020-2021 came with an estimated 60 per cent of Syria's population food-insecure, the UN says.

Local authorities are trying to support farmers, despite a lack of resources to confront an agricultural crisis compounded by inflation and shortages of fuel and water.

Imports have continued since Russia's February invasion of Ukraine but the war in Kyiv has sparked fears of a supply crisis as wheat fields shrivel.

Farmers say they want higher prices from the government for their produce.

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