GENEVA: More than 13 million Syrians — over half the population — are facing acute food insecurity, the United Nations warned Tuesday, calling for clearing explosive-littered fields to revitalize agriculture in the war-shattered country.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said turning fields riddled with unexploded ordnance following the brutal civil war into productive land could help solve the food crisis in Syria.
“Syria’s agriculture sector is at a pivotal moment,” said Pirro-Tomaso Perri, the FAO’s acting representative in the country.
“After 14 years of conflict, recurrent droughts, economic hardship, damaged irrigation, weakened services, disrupted markets, and widespread explosive ordnance contamination, rural livelihoods remain under severe pressure.”
He said there were “around 13.4 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity,” while for many rural Syrians, “cultivating land, grazing animals, harvesting crops can be life-threatening.”
