Syria: Success story of whate self-sufficiency

Successful story of Syrian
self-sufficiency in wheat
International Conference on Policies for Water and Food
Security in Dry Areas
24th to 26th of June, Cairo, Egypt
Dr. Haitham Al Ashkar
SyrianArabRepublic

contents
The
importance of
agriculture
Food security
and poverty
in Syria
Agricultural
natural
resources
Wheat
importance and
agricultural policy
Lessons
learned
InternationalConferenceon
PoliciesforWaterandFood
SecurityinDryAreas–24-26June,
Cairo,Egypt
2

Over the last
decade, the
contribution
to the
national GDP
ranged
between
16% and
24%
to the total
labor force
about 20%,
to the total
trade about
14%.
Provides raw
materials to
agro-
industry
business

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Agriculture 24.1 19.7 17.5 18.7 16.2 19.7
Building & Construction 4.3 4.1 3.6 3.6 3.6 4.3
Finance & Insurance 4.7 5.4 5.4 5.3 5.4 5.6
Government Services 10.6 12.9 12.5 13.2 14.0 15.0
Mining & Manufacturing 23.7 23.3 23.2 22.6 24.5 22.4
Transport & Communication 11.3 11.9 12.5 12.3 12.9 11.8
Wholesale & Retail Trade 18.3 19.5 21.6 20.8 20.1 17.3
other sectors 3.0 3.2 3.7 3.5 3.4 3.8
Cairo,Egypt
4
Contribution of the economic sectors of the national economy to Gross
Domestic Products at fixed prices between 2006 and 2011 (%)
24.1 16.2

Land use
cultivable,
6.068 (33%)
20% uncultivable
44% pastures and
steppes
3% forests
•invested area 5.7 million
hectares, 94% of cultivable
land, 24% irrigated, 56% rain-
fed land, 20% fallow land.
Cairo,Egypt
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Total Area
18.5
M.ha

Agro ecological zones in Syria
Cairo,Egypt
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Water resources
• Syria is one of the water-poor countries , like some other
countries in the region,
• Tenth 5-year plan showed that there is an average annual
water shortage of /1.727/ billion cubic meters and it reached
3.125 billion cubic meters in 2009
• That shortage is a result of:
• frequent drought seasons,
• irrational use of water, at farm level in particular,
• lack of incentives to reduce water consumption,
• high prices for intensive water-use crops, such as cotton and
sugar beet.
Cairo,Egypt
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Water resources cont.
• These factors caused:
• deeper water table of ground water,
• drying-up of some springs,
• Reducing the flaw of some rivers,
• Exposing some water resources to various levels of pollution.
• It is estimated that the water use is about 18 billion M3 , And
average water available is 15 billion M3
Cairo,Egypt
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Cairo,Egypt
9
Year irrigated from surface water irrigated from wells
2005 560 865
2006 551 851
2007 583 813
2008 595 761
2009 583 656
2010 614 727
2011 647 752
Table : evolution of irrigated areas distributed by irrigation
sources between 2005 and 2011 (thousand hectares)

Food security in Syria
• The UN/FAO World Food Summit (Rome 1996) defined
food security and its associated dimensions as follows:
“all people, at all times, have physical, social, and
economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to
meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an
active and healthy life”.
Dimensions of food security: Availability, Access, Stability,
Utilization.
Cairo,Egypt
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Food security Dimensions
• Food Availability
• self-sufficient in most of the agricultural products, and exports
many of Agr. products
• wheat, legumes, vegetables, fruits, olives and olive oil, and some
animal products.
• BUT, deficit in sugar and maize, a relatively slight shortage in
some dairy products, meat, vegetable oils, and barley.
• Accessibility
• quota of 1 kg sugar and 0.5 kg rice per capita per month at
subsidized prices.
• Opened quantity of Bread is also offered at a very subsidized
price that represents only 15-20% of production cost.
Cairo,Egypt
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• Stability
• To avoid the risk of food shortage, especially wheat, the Government
holds sufficient stocks that can feed the Syrian people for more than
one year, which guarantees avoiding chocks of wheat availability and
price volatility.
• Food Utilization
• Average per capita calorie intake increased from about 3000
kcal/day in 2000 to more than 3200 kcal /day in recent years, more
than 85% from vegetal sources.
• Per capita daily protein consumption increased from 74.8 to 86.7
grams/day with a significant increase of vegetal protein share.
• Per capita FAT consumption has declined from 104.5 grams /day in
2000 to 96 g / day in 2004, while the share of fat of plant sources
reached 76% .
In 2010, The Syrian Government adopted a National Program for Food
Security
Cairo,Egypt
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Food security Dimensions cont.

Cairo,Egypt
13
Item
Self-sufficiency
ratio
Item Self-sufficiency ratio
Wheat 98 Olive 558
Lentils 173 Almonds 101
Tomato 147 Eggs 122.7
Potato 109 red meat 109
Barley 62.5 Milk 295
Maize 11.6
Table: The average Self-Sufficiency Ratio between 2005 and 2010 (%)

Self Sufficiency in Wheat
InternationalConferenceonPoliciesforWaterandFoodSecurityinDryAreas–
24-26June,Cairo,Egypt
14

The challenge and coping strategy
• Syria has experienced difficulties in providing sufficient
flour to the Syrian citizens in the late 80s of the last
century.
• To avoid that, a decision has been made at a high political
level, according to which the country must produce its
needs from wheat and the Government should insure the
availability of all requirements at due time and reasonable
prices to implement the decision.
• Accordingly, all related ministries and interested parties
have prepared plans to implement the decision.
Cairo,Egypt
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The Importance of Wheat
• The most important item of food basket
In 2011,
• wheat made up 35% of the cropped area
• 28% of the crop production
• 20% of the value of crop production
• 14% of the value of agricultural production
•
• To avoid the risk of drought, about 50% of wheat
cultivated in irrigated area.
Cairo,Egypt
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Wheat area
Figure:evolutionofareaunderwheatfrom1990and2011by
productionsystem(thousandhectare)
Cairo,Egypt
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0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
Irrigated Rainfed
1066
274
857
755

Figure:evolutionofwheatproductionfrom1990and
2011 byproductionsystem(tones)
SecurityinDryAreas–24-26
June,Cairo,Egypt
18
rain-fed irrigated
44%
92%

Figure:evolutionof wheatproductivityfrom
1990and2011 byproductionsystem(ton/ha)
June,Cairo,Egypt
19
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
total irrigated rain-fed

Wheat policies
Planning policy
Input and credit policies
Irrigation policy
Plant protection policy
Agricultural research and extension
policies
MAAR investment budget policy
Marketing and price policies
Trade policy
June,Cairo,Egypt
20

Planning policy
• Top bottom initiative of the Annual Agricultural
Production Plan
• Local discussion of the Plan
• Bottom top process of formulation the Plan
• Endorsement of the Plan
• Agricultural license
June,Cairo,Egypt
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Input and credit policy
Credit policy, Agricultural Cooperative Bank, ACB
• Subsidized interest rate, 6% -8%
Cash loans per hectare
• SP15000 from wells,
• 11000 from surface water,
• 2500 rain-fed
• In-kind
• Seeds
• 250 kg/ha for irrigated areas from wells and surface water resources,
• 200 kg/ha in the rain-fed areas in zone1
• 150 kg/ha in the rain-fed areas in zone 2.
June,Cairo,Egypt
22

Fertilizers
June,Cairo,Egypt
23
Fertilizer irrigated
Rain-fed
Zone1 Zone2
N 141 70 51
P2O5 65 30 30
K2O 90 35 -
Table: fertilizers offered by ACB according to the table of requirement
(kg pure unit/ha)

Irrigation Policies
The Future vision indicates that “Water security is an essential tool to
achieve sustainable development”.
The Tenth Five-Year Plan adopted policies and methods related to
management and investment of water resources through:
enhancing water use efficiency, and preservation
Take all measures to control water pollution and find appropriate solutions.
Provide efficient institutional and legal frameworks and adequate financial
resources.
 Enable relevant institutions to manage water resources in an integrated
manner covering real needs of rural communities, especially in remote and
poor areas, through an effective, rational and sustainable way.
June,Cairo,Egypt
24

Water policies cont.
 Engage economic planning of resource management and planning of
available water resources, as well as rationalize the use and development of
non-traditional sources of water to achieve the utmost possible use of
water.
 Enhance awareness; disseminate information and education, support the
role of the private sector, community institutions, and water users in
controlling and managing water resources.
June,Cairo,Egypt
25

Irrigation Policies
Conversion from traditional irrigation to modern irrigation
techniques:
establishing, in the Ministry of Agricultural and Agrarian
Reform, the National Fund for Conversion to Modern
Irrigation,
The capital of the fund is SP 52 Billion.
It provides farmers with long term loans at 4% interest
rate.
Moreover, farmers are exempted from 50% of the total
loan.
The converted area was about 23% of the total irrigated
area.
June,Cairo,Egypt
26

Research and extension policies
Cairo,Egypt
27
The research programs resulted in finding out:
irrigated durum wheat variety, sham7, 7.445 T/ha,
Rain-fed durum wheat, zon1, Bohoth 7, 4.843 T/ha
Irrigated soft wheat, sham8, 9 T/h
Rain-fed soft wheat, zone1, variety, Golan2, 4.576 T/h

Research and extension cont.
June,Cairo,Egypt
28
In order to transfer the findings of the research
to the farm field a specific extension program is
delivered to wheat farmers to get the best results
of wheat in terms of quantity and quality.

Fertilizers 18%
Crop management 23%
Irrigation 27%
Improved varieties 32%
the impact of agricultural technologies on the increase
of wheat productivity

June,Cairo,Egypt
30
Year soft wheat durum wheat
10.8 11.8
10.8 11.8
10.8 11.8
10.8 11.8
10.8 11.8
10.8 11.8
16.5 17
19.5 20
20 20.5
21 21.5
Table: Evolution of official wheat prices SP/kg
Marketing and price policies

June,Cairo,Egypt
31
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
US$/T
Local price world price
Figure:Evolution of local and international
prices of soft wheat

The impact of Agricultural Policies was positive on the increase
of wheat production, due to the development of both
horizontal and vertical dimensions,
between 1990 and 2012:
• The production increased by 74%.
• 74% due to improving in productivity
• 26% due to the expansion in area
• Statistics shows that the average ration of cultivated area to
planed area of wheat between 1996 and 2013 is 104%,
• the highest was 124%, in 2001, and the lowest was 82%, in
2013.
June,Cairo,Egypt
32
Policy impacts analysis

Figure:Planedandexecutedareaof wheat
between1996and2013 (ha)
June,Cairo,Egypt
33
0
200000
400000
600000
800000
1000000
1200000
1400000
1600000
1800000
2000000
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
planned area executed area

PositiveImpactsofAgriculturalPolicies
 Increasing cultivated land in both systems, rain-fed and
irrigated,
Achieving self sufficiency in many agricultural products
Increasing per capita calories intake.
Increasing the aggregate value of the agricultural production
Increasing the raw and processed agricultural exports share of
the total exports.
Developing rural infrastructure such as agricultural
roads, electricity, water, communication, storage, transport, etc.)
June,Cairo,Egypt
34

NegativeImpacts of the AgriculturalPolicies
 Deteriorate soil fertility, and contamination of soil and water
due to excessive use of water .
 Shortage of water supply, particularly underground water due
to random wells drilling and irrational water use.
 Holding fragmentation impeded agricultural
mechanization, due to heritage system and absence of joint
stock investment systems.
 Marketing, export and processing activities do not go in line
with the agricultural production increase
June,Cairo,Egypt
35

ChallengesFacingAgriculture
Limitation of natural and agricultural resources and the
impacts of environmental and climatic conditions.
High population growth and increased agricultural labor force.
Holding fragmentation.
Lack of financial resources and limited investments due to the
uncertainty of the agricultural investment.
Distribution of responsibility of agriculture managment
amongst different ministries
International economic changes (trade liberalization, trade
agreements, and tariff concessions).
Agricultural subsidies of rich countries and strong
competition.
Macro policies problems such as fiscal and financial
policies, interest and exchange rates, pricing, and subsidies.
June,Cairo,Egypt
36

Lessons learned
• Seeking to achieve a goal at national level entails a strong political
well, which is the case of achieving self-sufficiency in wheat.
• Sharing the interest with all stakeholders and beneficiaries and make
them part of the process, which is the case in the preparation of
Annual Agricultural Production Plan.
• All requirements, including cash, should be made available at due
time and at reasonable price, which is the case when the
Government gives the responsibility to Agricultural Cooperative
Bank to provide farmers with cash and in-kind loans at low interest
rate.
• Insure that the implementation of the plan goes well, where a
strong technical team should be recruited to monitor and follow up
the implementation of the plan. Moreover, the team should be
ready to intervene at due time, this is the case when all technical
teams at the MAAR are ready to intervene when needed.
June,Cairo,Egypt
37

• It is essential to assure farmers that the activity that you
are encouraging them to perform is profitable; the case
when the Government announces the price of wheat
prior of the planting season;
• In long term plans, adequate budget to fund research
and extension, protection plant should be secured; the
case when the Government allocates adequate money in
the current and investment budget to fund the Ministry
of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform programs.
• A clear vision and goals with executive matrix should be
announced, this is the case when the Government
adopted National Program for Food Security.
June,Cairo,Egypt
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Lessons learned cont.

Thanks for listening
Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome

Syria: Success story of whate self-sufficiency

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