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Syria Cropping and Production
Because only about 16 percent of the cropped area was
irrigated, the output of agriculture (both plant and animal) was
heavily dependent on rainfall. The great variation in the amounts
and timing of rainfall can immediately cause very substantial
shifts in areas planted, yields, and production, but the effect
on livestock is less predictable. When drought is unusually
severe or prolonged, loss of animals may depress livestock
production for several years. In 1984 crop production accounted
for 72 percent of the value of agricultural output; livestock and
animal products, 28 percent. Livestock alone, not counting
products such as milk, wool, and eggs, were 11 percent of the
total.
In 1984 crop production amounted to LS13.6 billion. The
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) valued Syrian 1985
production at US $1.1 billion. Grains contributed 15 percent to
the value of total crop production in 1984, in contrast to 41
percent in 1974. Industrial crops remained 20 percent of the
total. Fruits rose from 15 to 25 percent of the total, and
vegetables rose from 16 to 35 percent. In 1984, grain continued
to be planted on 66 percent of the cultivated land, consistent
with the mid-1970s percentage.
Fluctuations in rainfall resulted in major variations in crop
production throughout the 1980s. In 1980, wheat was planted on
1.4 million hectares, yielding 2.2 million tons--the largest
wheat harvest since the early 1960s. In 1984, wheat planted on
1.1 million hectares produced only 1.1 million tons
(see table 9,
Production of Agricultural Products, Appendix). In 1980 and 1984,
barley was planted on 1.2 million hectares, but production fell
from 1.6 million tons in 1980, the peak year, to 303,500 tons in
1984, revealing the impact of the drought on rain-dependent
crops. In 1985 wheat and barley crops rebounded to 1.7 million
tons and 740,000 tons, respectively. In 1984, Syria grew a record
60,000 tons of corn.
Earlier stagnation of agricultural output meant primarily
stagnation of grain production. Instead of exporting wheat, in
the 1980s Syria became a net importer. In 1985 Syria imported 1.4
million tons of wheat, worth more than LS800 million. In
addition, cereal imports rose from LS368 million in 1982 to
LS.1.6 billion in 1984, amounting to 56 percent of the LS2.85
billion bill for food imports that year.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the government encouraged greater
grain production by providing improved high-yield seeds, raising
prices paid to farmers, and urging shifts toward wheat growing on
some irrigated land formerly planted in cotton. Its intent was to
raise grain output at least to self-sufficiency to ease the
pressure on the balance of payments. Beginning in the late 1970s,
the government showed increased interest in improving rain-fed
agriculture and acquired funding from the World Bank,
International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the UN
Development Program for a US$76.3 million project to expand food
production and raise the standard of living in Dar'a and As
Suwayda provinces. In addition, Syrian agriculture benefited from
research projects undertaken by the International Center for
Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas' (ICARDA) branch office
located near Aleppo. ICARDA helped develop the Sham-1 durum wheat
and Sham-2 bread wheat used by Syrian farmers in the mid-1980s
and demonstrated through its research the positive effect of
phosphate fertilizers on barley crops in dry areas, encouraging
the government to consider a change in agricultural strategy.
In the 1980s, vegetables and fruits exhibited the fastest
growth rates of the various crops, although they started from a
low base. Urbanization and rising incomes spurred cultivation of
these products, which were also generally exempt from official
price control. Fruits and vegetables were grown primarily in the
northwest and coastal plain in irrigated fields and where
rainfall and groundwater were greatest. However, Syria lagged
considerably behind Lebanon in cultivation of fruits and
vegetables in similar terrain, and seasonal fruits were
consistently smuggled in from Lebanon in the 1980s.
Syria has produced cotton since ancient times, and its
cultivation increased in importance in the 1950s and 1960s. Until
superceded by petroleum in 1974, cotton was Syria's most
important industrial and cash crop, and the country's most
important foreign exchange earner, accounting for about one-third
of Syria's export earnings. In 1976 the country was the tenth
largest cotton producer in the world and the fourth largest
exporter. Almost all the cotton was grown on irrigated land,
largely in the area northeast of Aleppo. Syrian cotton was medium
staple, similar to cotton produced in other developing countries
but of lower quality than the extra-long staple variety produced
in Egypt. The cotton was handpicked, although mechanical pickers
were tried in the 1970s in an attempt to hold down rising labor
costs.
Cotton production (cotton lint) rose from 13,000 tons in 1949
to 180,000 tons in 1965. However, land reform and nationalization
of the cotton gins precipitated a sharp decline in output in the
next few years. Beginning in 1968 and during the 1970s annual
lint production hovered around 150,000 tons. However, in 1983 and
1984, Syria enjoyed a record cotton crop of 523,418 tons, and the
third highest yield in the world, estimated at 3 tons per
hectare. To a large measure, this increase was attributable to
the government's raising cotton procurement prices by 44 percent
in 1981-82, and by another 20 percent in 1982-83.
Although the area under cotton cultivation has declined since
the early 1960s, yields have increased as a result of improved
varieties of seed and increasing amounts of fertilizer. The area
planted dropped from over 250,000 hectares in the early 1960s to
140,000 hectares in 1980. In response to the jump in procurement
prices by 1984, it increased to 178,000 hectares. As domestic
consumption of cotton increased in the 1960s and 1970s, the
government built several textile mills to gain the value added
from exports of fabrics and clothes compared with exports of raw
cotton. In the 1980s, cotton exports averaged 120,000 tons,
ranging from a low of 72,800 tons to a record of 151,000 tons in
1983. Syria's seed cotton harvest was 462,000 tons in 1985, about
3 percent higher than in 1984. Aproximately 110,000 tons of the
1985 harvest were destined for export markets. Major foreign
customers in 1985 included the Soviet Union (18,000 tons),
Algeria (14,672 tons), Italy (13,813 tons), and Spain (10,655
tons).
The government's goal of expanding and diversifying food
production created intense competition for irrigated land and
encouraged the practice of double cropping. Because cotton did
not lend itself to double cropping, the cultivated cotton area
was declining in real terms. However, the area under cultivation
and significance of other industrial crops substantially
increased during the 1980s. For example, the government initiated
policies designed to stimulate sugar beet cultivation to supply
the sugar factories built in the 1970s and 1980s. The area under
cultivation for sugar beets rose from 22,000 hectares in 1980 to
35,700 hectares in 1984, with sugar beet harvests totalling over
1 million tons in 1984. Syria, however, still imported LS287
million worth of sugar in 1984. USDA estimated that Syria would
achieve tobacco self-sufficiency in 1985, with harvests of 12.3
million tons (dry weight) compared with 12.2 million tons in
1984. Although yields per hectare fell slightly in 1985, USDA
expected imports to match exports. In 1984 Syria imported 559
tons of tobacco and exported 225 tons. Other important commercial
crops included olives and tomatoes.
Data as of April 1987
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