Relief agency warns of severe food shortage in northern Syria

The Syria Response Coordinators team confirmed that three out of five Syrians suffer from food insecurity, after the continuous rise in food prices and the deterioration of living conditions across Syria.

 

The local relief group said in a statement that despite the fact that the number of beneficiaries of the food rations reached about 5.8 million people per month at the end of 2021, stressing that the increasing needs led to a reduction in the rations provided to families.

 

The response team that operates in northern Syria stressed that the price of a standard food basket sufficient to feed a family of five people for one month, amounted to about $60 (880 Turkish liras), which consumes two-thirds of the salary of a day laborer for a whole month.

 

Women are considered the most financially affected group, especially with 30% of them not having any income to support their families.

 

The statement added that about 12.4 million people (nearly 60% of the population) suffer from food insecurity in 2020, and do not know where their next meal will come from, and this is the highest number recorded in the history of Syria, with an increase of 57% over 2019.

 

The response team also confirmed that donor countries funded only 50% of the needs for 2021 amounting to 1.27 billion US dollars, and the United States and Germany were the two largest donors, with 88% of all contributions received.

 

The statement stressed that a food crisis is looming in the war-affected areas of Ukraine, including Syria, due to the suspension of production and export of products such as grain.

 

The number of Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance has reached about 14 million and 600 people, after it reached 13 million and 400 thousand people in 2021, and 90% of the Syrians have reached the poverty line, while 60% of them suffer from food insecurity.

 

 The northern region of Syria is home to 3.5 million refugees but controlled by the opposition's military factions amid piling economic difficulties due to a decade of war that claimed 500,000 lives and has displaced 13,2 million people.