Securing Water
Before the war started, people were accustomed to advanced and modern central water systems.
As for sewage and treated water, only the big cities enjoyed that. This affected the amount of potable water that the rural areas enjoyed, forcing them to resort to other, less developed, and possibly unsafe alternatives to secure their needs.
War-damaged water and sanitation services and facilities have affected the safe and regular access of 14.6 million people to safe drinking water, while an estimated 7.6 million people are in dire need of WASH services.
Agriculture
Although the agricultural sector has performed better than other sectors in Syria in the past ten years, farmers have suffered from …
- Conflict effects.
- Macroeconomic difficulties.
- Facing unfavorable climatic conditions in the country’s main grain-producing regions.
Farmers continue to raise concerns about;
- High production costs.
- High transportation costs.
- Lack of high-quality inputs.
- Old agricultural pieces of machinery.
- Lack of significant investments.
Some progress has been made in rehabilitating irrigation structures, although illegal and uncontrolled groundwater drilling over the past years is likely to have lowered the water table.
A large proportion of the formerly irrigated land is still not irrigated due to…
- Lack of equipment, maintenance, and fuel.
- High rates of wastage in fruit and vegetable production.
- Low consumer purchasing power.
- Inability to export.
- A shortage of processing plants.
Food
As the war continues in Syria, families across the country are facing unprecedented levels of poverty and food insecurity.
Today, more Syrians are struggling to put food on their tables than ever before. The overall food security situation is rapidly deteriorating across the country because of:
- Large-scale hostilities.
- Mass displacement across the northern provinces.
- Severe economic downturn.
So families need support to meet their basic needs and rebuild their lives.
The World Food Program estimates that 12.4 million Syrians are currently food insecure. This is an increase of 4.5 million in the last year alone and the highest number ever recorded.
More pressure on families who are now struggling to afford basics because of the following:
- Years of conflict and displacement.
- Soaring food prices.
- The depreciation of the Syrian pound.
The ongoing Syrian war has exhausted the following:
- Community assets.
- Wiped out livelihoods.
- Eroded the resilience of family and community.
Food systems have been severely disrupted in many regions, leading to; widespread food insecurity and the need for food assistance.
Fodder
The need in times of war depends on creative people and thinkers who search within the available means to find things that mitigate the impact of the effects of war and its impact on the living situation and the material inflation that accompanies these conditions.
With the continuation of the war raging in Syria and the economic collapse, it was necessary to delve into this field and work to discover new resources that ease the burden on Syrians in various fields of their work.
The process of natural food production, such as the production of protein worms, was among these discoveries, which contributed greatly to the replacement of compound feeds in feeding animals such as poultry and sheep.
Livestock
Locally, overall livestock numbers appeared to have stabilized after an initial sharp decline early in the Syrian war. Live animal prices have already fallen compared to last year, as farmers sold part of their herd to purchase feed and other inputs for the rest.
Dairy and egg prices have risen to cover rising feed and fuel costs, but the rate of increase for dairy and egg products is less than increases in production cost.
Although there have been no major animal disease outbreaks (although lumpy skin disease of cattle was a problem earlier), the nutritional status of the animals is poor, making them susceptible to disease in general.
Medicine
In mid-December 2021, the prices of all drugs were raised by (30%) after submitting the cost of more than 11 thousand brands at the same rate in mid-June of the same year.
The drug shortage crisis is not considered new, as its announcement accompanies the demands of pharmaceutical factories to raise their prices “to avoid interruption of production.”.
Medical consultations are increasingly becoming a challenge in northwestern Syria. There have been difficulties with medical consultations for many years.
Shelter and Clothing
As temperatures drop, displaced children and families seeking shelter in tented camps are facing a harsh winter. Forced to flee their homes with little more than the clothes on their backs, families are living in tented camps in the middle of the desert, with nothing to fend off the cold or the strong wind. It is not uncommon for heavy rain to flood tents, worsening living conditions.
The lives of Syrian people dealing with numerous difficulties in rural Idlib’s tent camps have become much harder due to the ongoing pandemic.
As the humanitarian catastrophe in the region has reached new heights, people try to survive by taking shelter under trees or shaky tents built on mud and puddles.
Many local and international organizations, Turkish nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and state agencies keep providing vital humanitarian aid and conducting humanitarian efforts in the region hosting nearly 4 million people.
Youth Livelihood and Employment
Donor humanitarian organizations are still providing traditional relief projects and they are active and expanding at the expense of livelihood projects in the northern Syrian regions, while the residents of the region, locals and displaced, are looking forward to increasing their effectiveness in the field of humanitarian activity, to provide greater job opportunities, and to escape the long unemployment queue. In the face of social changes that have taken place in society, most notably the absence of breadwinners in Syrian families, in addition to the loss of job opportunities for many former “Government employees.”.
Sustainable Livelihoods
People in Syria used to depend on agriculture and livestock farming for income and food security.
Livelihoods have been affected by the ongoing crisis in Syria due to the loss of assets, income, arable land, and productive livestock, increasing the number of food-insecure people.