Agricultural production circumstances in Syria
Syria, Agriculture, 2/26/1999

Less than half of Syria's land area is suitable for agricultural production and large regions, especially in the eastern areas of the country, are arid and cannot be used for agricultural purposes.

In the south, rocky terrain had traditionally posed great obstacles to modern farming, but with the help of foreign financing, a rock-clearing program has been underway for a number of years and is expected to increase the land areas available for cultivation.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates the current size of the cultivable areas to be around 595 million hectares, of which a total of 5.5 million hectares is actually under regular cultivation.

The official figures for 1996 show that Syria's land area of 18.5 million hectares was classified in land-use categories as follows: cultivable land 3.7 million hectares, steppes and pasture lands 8.3 million hectares, forests 0.5 million hectares, cultivable 5.4 million hectares and roads 0.6 million hectares. The latter category can be further subdivided according to the actual use.

With 4.8 million hectares of rain-fed land making up to 79% of all cultivable land, 0.7 million hectares were irrigated, including 134,000 hectares of gravitationally irrigated land, while 0.5 million hectares and 0.2 million hectares were classified respectively as uncultivated and fallow cultivable land.

It would seem that a new definition of rain-fed agriculture versus fallow has been used since. Over the period between 1978 and1996 the salient features are a 50% increase in gravitational irrigation and a 34% increase in pump irrigation. More and more land had been brought under rain-fed cultivation, reducing the fallow land accordingly.

Land reclamation and irrigation projects have led to a reclassification of over 200,000 hectares from uncultivable to cultivable land. The average holdings vary considerably with production density. The 1991 agricultural census estimated that the average cultivated area was only three (3) hectares per family in Lattakia and Tartous (two coastal provinces). In the country's main annual cropping belt, stretching from Aleppo to Homs, holdings averaged between 9 hectares in Hama and 16 hectares in Aleppo.

Despite largely belonging to high rainfall zones, in the southern provinces of Sweida and Daraa, average farm size was estimated at well over 10 hectares. This may reflect the stony character of much of the land in the area. In Hassaka and al-Raqqa average holdings were 30 hectares or more. This owes to the combines effect of relative underpopulation and unfavorable rainfall pattern.

In Deir ezz Zour, the average land holding was estimated at under 5 hectares, but most of it would be irrigated under one of the Euphrates' systems.

Although no clear data appears to exist, it is generally believed that, as a consequence of inheritance laws and customs, farms would now be very fragmented, which may not be conductive to intensive mechanization irrigation and soil protection.

Annual cropping patterns are largely determined by the expected winter rainfall. In the unirrigated areas farming is limited to the winter season. Only in the Idleb and Aleppo provinces is summer unirrigated farming practiced at all where adequate irrigation potential exists a summer crop also appears.

As for agricultural settlement zones, Syria may be divided into five agricultural zones. The first Zone, with annual rainfall over 350 mm which is divided into two divisions: an area with annual rainfall over 600 mm where non-irrigated crops would be successfully planted and an area with annual rainfall between 350- 600 mm and not less than 300 mm during two thirds of the related period. It is possible to get two yield crop seasons every three years. The main crops are wheat pulses and summer crops.

The second zone, has an annual rainfall rate between 250-350 mm and less than 250 mm during two thirds of related years. It is possible to get two barley seasons every three years. In addition to, wheat pulses and summer crops could be planted.

The fourth is a marginal zone, with an annual rainfall rate between 200-250 mm and less than 200 mm during the half of the related years. Barely plantation in this zones is good as permanent grazing land.

The fifth zone (desert of steppe regions) covers what remains of the country land and is not suitable for non-irrigated planting.

Previous Stories:
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  Syrian cotton conference opens in Aleppo   (1/13/1999)
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