DROUGHT UPDATE: WFP RENEWS SYRIA AID APPEAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAMASCUS 000070 DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC PRIORITY SIPDIS DEPT FOR PRM/ANE, DEPT FOR USAID, CAIRO FOR FAS, LONDON FOR MILLER, PARIS FOR NOBLES, ROME FOR WFP WATCHER E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2020 TAGS: EAGR EAID ECON FAS PREL SOCI SY WFP SUBJECT: DROUGHT UPDATE: WFP RENEWS SYRIA AID APPEAL REF: A. 09 DAMASCUS 619 ¶B. 09 DAMASCUS 432 ¶C. 09 DAMASCUS 499 ¶D. 08 DAMASCUS 874 ¶E. 08 DAMASCUS 857 ¶F. 08 DAMASCUS 847 ¶G. 08 DAMASCUS 820 ¶H. 08 DAMASCUS 792 ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: UN World Food Program (WFP) Country Representative Muhannad Hadi requested on January 13 that the United States donate food aid valued at $10 million to the drought appeal for northeast Syria. WFP seeks to begin food distribution in February but thus far has received only a fraction of the contributions necessary to achieve the program's goals. Hadi argued that WFP will be forced to either reduce the number of beneficiaries or cut individual food rations if the funding target remains unmet. After disastrously low rainfall levels and crop yields in 2008, the Syrian agricultural sector rebounded somewhat in 2009 and may see a record national wheat crop in 2010. Nonetheless, recovery in severely affected northeast Syria will not happen quickly, as the current lack of food, outmigration of manpower, long-term depletion of groundwater, rise in fuel prices, and collapse of government services present continuing challenges to resuming the cultivation of farmland and normal everyday life. END SUMMARY. -------------- WFP SEEKS $10 MILLION U.S. CONTRIBUTION -------------- ¶2. (C) UN World Food Program (WFP) Country Representative Muhannad Hadi urged the United States, during a January 13 meeting with Charge d'Affaires Hunter and Poloff, to donate $10 million to the Emergency Response to the Drought in Northeast Syria, which was launched by WFP in November to raise $22.3 million within the framework of the overall $52.9 million Syria Drought Response Plan announced in August 2009. (NOTE: As described in Damascus 619, the SARG previously persuaded the UN to re-brand the "2009 Joint Drought Appeal" as the "Syrian Drought Response Plan" because of the government's aversion to the optics of an "appeal" or "emergency." END NOTE.) ¶3. (SBU) The Emergency Response aims to provide food rations covering 75 percent of daily nutritional needs to the most vulnerable households (approximately 300,000 beneficiaries) in the severely affected northeastern governorates of Al-Hassakeh, Al-Raqqa, and Deir Ezzor through the next harvest in July 2010. The project seeks to begin food distribution in early February. ¶4. (C) To date, contributions from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund and the governments of Australia, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden account for only $5.4 million of the $22.3 million approved budget for the project. WFP anticipates that the $10 million of in-kind food assistance sought from the United States would fund three months of operations (food distribution of 10,839 metric tons). Further funds are also being sought from the European Commission. If the project does not receive adequate support, Hadi argued that WFP will be forced to either reduce the number of beneficiaries or cut the food ration for each beneficiary. -------------- -------------- BRIGHTER PROSPECTS IN '10, BUT CONTINUING NEED IN NORTHEAST SYRIA -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) In all, WFP estimates that about 1.3 million Syrians have been affected by the four-year drought (refs A, B, C, F). Of those, approximately 800,000 are in dire need of assistance. Three Joint UN Needs Assessments conducted between August 2008 and June 2009 concluded that directly affected rural populations have lost almost all sources of livelihood and have resorted to significantly reducing their food intake, migrating to urban centers, and removing children from school in order to work. In November, Hadi reported that the SARG was providing relief for about 500,000 people, with the WFP hoping to provide assistance to another DAMASCUS 00000070 002 OF 003 300,000. ¶6. (SBU) After the disastrously low rainfall levels and crop yields in 2008, the Syrian agricultural sector rebounded somewhat in 2009. Recent figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture claim that the wheat crop rose to 3.8 million metric tons (MT) last year, well above the 2.1 million MT harvested in 2008 and an improvement upon the 3.3 million MT harvest forecast by the SARG earlier last year (ref B). Post judges the official harvest statistics to be broadly accurate, estimating actual 2009 wheat yields to be in the range of 3.8-4.0 million MT. ¶7. (SBU) However, the 2009 crop figures fell below historical averages, and much of the improved farming conditions during the 2008-09 growing season (October to June for wheat) eluded the severely drought-stricken northeastern governorates, resulting in continued outmigration during the first half of the year. Hadi described visits to villages in the region that were significantly depopulated due to residents' inability to sustain agricultural or pastoral livelihoods. ¶8. (C) Prospects for the 2010 harvest are more encouraging, and multiple sources forecast a possible record national wheat crop approaching 5 million MT this year. With a surge in rainfall late in 2009 (rain also fell throughout the country over the last week),some areas in the northeast received eight times the level of precipitation seen in 2008. Nonetheless, aquifers remain low from years of drought and overpumping, and the recent increase in precipitation may only slow their decline. A Qamishli resident reached by telephone on January 18, just before two days of rainstorms, confirmed that the recent weather relief was welcome but insufficient. "Things are greener at least, but right now there is no rain and we need more," he said. The resident came to Damascus in 2009 to work as a waiter because he could not find work in his drought-stricken region. Homesick for his family, he returned to Qamishli in August. He is now considering returning to Damascus because of the lack of employment opportunities in Qamishli, which he attributes partially to the drought. ¶9. (SBU) The most recent WFP monitoring visit to the region occurred earlier this month and observed that, due to the rainfall of recent months, "people who left and migrated last April, May, and June 2009 are returning slowly to their homes." Still, despite recent precipitation levels, WFP monitors report that sustained assistance is needed to feed the affected population and to help them prepare to replant and cultivate lands for the next harvest season. The migration of manpower, long-term depletion of groundwater, and rise in fuel prices present further challenges to resuming the cultivation of farmland. Rangelands have also been severely deteriorated and may take two sound rainy seasons to regain good levels of fertility. And despite the improved conditions, government services -- including health care and schools -- are functioning infrequently or not at all. -------------- -------------- WFP POINTS TO IMPROVED FOOD DELIVERY AND DISTRIBUTION -------------- -------------- ¶10. (C) During the November meeting, Hadi stated that the WFP had encountered no additional problems with importing its food shipments into Syria after resolving with the SARG delays in the approval of rice shipments that arrived at Syrian ports earlier in 2009 and in 2008 (refs A, D, E, G, H). Hadi reaffirmed last week that food shipments are entering the country without difficulty. ¶11. (C) COMMENT: As was the case last year, WFP continues to struggle to convince international donors to contribute to its drought response efforts in Syria. The branding of this new WFP request as an "Emergency Response" suggests that either the SARG has swallowed hard and dropped its ideological opposition to describing circumstances in northeast Syria as an "emergency" or that the UN has decided the situation is so dire that it merits disregarding SARG objections in order to attract the needed attention of donors. A timely U.S. contribution to the current humanitarian appeal could send another positive signal DAMASCUS 00000070 003 OF 003 regarding U.S.-SARG engagement and highlight U.S. humanitarian assistance to the people of Syria. END COMMENT. HUNTER