Syrian Agricultural policies before 2011

Abdulaziz Dayoub

Syria occupied an important agricultural position in the past, it gained the title of the food basket of the Roman Empire. During the fifties of the last century, that is, after independence, agriculture contributed to the growth of the national economy through agricultural companies planting large areas, until the year 1958, which was considered
the beginning of the deterioration of Syrian agriculture through the law of agricultural reform, which Issued at the beginning of uniting with Egypt, which led to the fragmentation of those agricultural areas and thus a decline in the use of agricultural mechanization.

In the beginning of the sixties of the last century, this law was enshrined during the Ba`ath Party’s seizure of power, where it devoted the fragmentation of fragmented and the deepening of the gap in agricultural relations in addition to the adoption of agricultural policies that led to agriculture reaching the brink of collapse. One of the most important implemented policies is the controlling of the countryside through the construction of “Trade Union Organizations”, in which are affiliated with the Ba’ath Party and local Security Services. Also, the formation of “Agriculture Cooperation Societies”, where corruption is rampant in all its structures. Those policies continued to seize agricultural institutions and empty them of their content professionally and scientifically, and therefore plundered them for the benefit of the powerful in power, which took advantage of every agricultural joint for their service.

In addition, they dealt with the repercussions of the drought phenomenon that affected the eastern region of Syria in the year 2008 in the form of Mafia fashion aimed at seizing the property of farmers by agricultural banks, which led to their forced displacement. Their numbers approached half a million, most of whom were Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syrians, and their lands were distributed to power supporters from clan leaders or security and loyal officials.
This study provides some important recommendations:
– Reconsidering the laws that hinder the development of agriculture
– Restructuring the Ministry of Irrigation and Agriculture, in line with the administration's development and improving skills.
– Attention to “Alternative Agriculture” and Drought-Resistant Crops.
– Other recommendations aimed at the transition of Syrian agriculture to modernity and its effective contribution to the development process.

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