Concern grows over Syrian cereal prospects – in pictures

A syrian farmer carries wheat in Hamorieh. Prospects for this year’s crop are a concern. Momammad Badra / EPA

Syrian farmers bag wheat into grain bags. Much less land was planted to cereals than hoped for this season. Momammad Badra / EPA

A Syrian farmer stands behind a farm machine dispelling wheat stalks and chaff. Momammad Badra / EPA

A syrian farmer throws wheat into a wheat mill in Hamorieh, near Damascus. Although last year’s crop was relatively good, it was still far below the annual pre-war average. Momammad Badra / EPA

A Syrian farmer harvests wheat in a field near the rebel-controlled town of Hamouria, in the eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus. Sameer Al Doumy / AFP

A young Syrian carries a pile of wheat in Hamouria, in the eastern Ghouta region. Sameer Al Doumy / AFP

Farmers harvest wheat in a field in Damascus’ eastern Ghouta suburbs. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

A Syrian farmer carries wheat in Hamorieh. Momammad Badra / EPA

A young Syrian harvests wheat using a sickle in a field in Hamouria. Sameer Al Doumy / AFP

Syrian farmers cut wheat in Hamorieh. Momammad Badra / EPA

A wheat field in Eastern Ghouta. This year’s crop will probably fall short of last year’s. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

The 2015 Syrian cereals harvest was relatively good, reflecting favourable weather conditions but production was still well below the long-term average. According to the May 2015 FAO/WFP report, wheat production was between 2.5 million and 2.8m tonnes, most of which was harvested in the northern areas of Hasaka, Raqqa, Aleppo and Idlib. However, there are concerns about prospects for the 2015/16 cereals harvest, noting in January that only 538,000 hectares of the targeted 1.7m hectares had been sown with wheat.