Syrian wheat to fall short of forecast

DUBAI: The Syrian government has vastly overestimated the size of the country´s wheat crop, officials, traders and farmers told Reuters, indicating that a population that has endured unrelenting war could struggle to feed itself this year.

A large part of Syria´s agricultural heartland in the north has been under the control of Islamic State since 2014, when the ultra-hardline jihadist group swept through the area and established a de facto capital in Raqqa.  Many farmers have fled their land, with some saying they have not harvested crops for three years. While Islamic State has been slowly driven back from their territory by U.S.-backed forces in recent weeks, the retreating militants have laid waste to agricultural infrastructure in the area, which produces the bulk of Syria's main staple wheat.

The Syrian agriculture ministry's wheat production forecast puts the 2017 crop at 2 million tonnes. However officials in the Raqqa Civil Council (RCC), which is expected to govern the northern region if and when U.S.-backed forces defeat the militants, say the actual figure will be around half the government´s forecast.