Syria conflict sends agriculture into shambles

Almost two years of civil war has devastated Syria’s once growing agricultural sector and rapidly created a food security crisis for its population of more than 22 million people, a United Nations mission found last week.

With 10% of the population already in need of food assistance, the blow taken by farming is expected to push the crisis even deeper, said Dominique Burgeon, director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Emergency and Rehabilitation Division.