Agricultural Livelihoods and Food Security Impact Assessment and Response Plan for the Syria Crisis in the Neighbouring Countries of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey March 2013 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Acknowledgments This report on “Agricultural Livelihoods and Food Security Impact Assessment and Response Plan for the Syria Crisis in the Neighbouring Countries of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey” was prepared by a multidisciplinary team of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The team of technical experts included Lori Curtis, Nasredin Elamin and Markos Tibbo from the FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa (FAO-RNE), Cyril Ferrand from the FAO Emergency and Rehabilitation Coordination Unit for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Christopher Baker, FAO consultant, who led the field team, coordinated technical contributions and produced the first complete draft. The field mission operation was coordinated by Tanja Popovic and Irene Omondi in collaboration with the FAO Representations of each country. In Lebanon, the mission was also assisted by Hadi Fathallah, FAO consultant, in macro-economic situation analysis. FAO-RNE technical officers are acknowledged for their invaluable contributions in preparatory work and in finalizing this report. The FAO multidisciplinary mission to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, conducted from 4– 22 February 2013, is indebted to the FAO Representations and programmes in the countries visited; Ministries of Agriculture (and Food, Livestock and Land Reclamation), of Industry and Trade, of Planning (Economy) and of Foreign Affairs; customs authorities; national departments of statistics; chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture; associations of commodity exporters; regional, subregional and country offices of United Nations agencies, including the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, International Organization for Migration, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Human Settlement Programme, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, World Food Programme and World Health Organization; regional, subregional and country offices or embassies of development partners (viz. International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Canadian International Development Agency, International Monetary Fund, European Union, the United Kingdom‟s Department for International Development, United States Agency for International Development, World Bank, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey; the Governments of Australia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates); international and national Non-governmental Organizations, including the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development, Africa Middle East Refugee Assistance, Hartha Charitable Society and Caritas; as well as a number of community-based organizations, and exporters‟ and producers associations. The mission team is grateful to the affected Syrian refugees, Lebanese returnees and host communities in Egypt and the border areas of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, who have provided information used in this report. The FAO Programme for Iraq, based in Amman, Jordan, and the Iraq offices of other agencies, also located in Amman, are highly acknowledged for their contributions regarding assessments on Iraq. The draft findings were presented to United Nations agencies and donors in Cairo and Amman whose inputs and contributions are highly acknowledged. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 6 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 12 2. BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................... 14 2.1 Consequences of displacement .................................................................................................. 14 2.1.1 Numbers of refugees .................................................................................................................. 14 2.1.2 Location of refugees, returnees and host communities ............................................................. 14 2.1.3 Socio-economic profiles of refugees, returnees and host communities..................................... 15 2.2 Importance of agriculture to the region‟s economy ................................................................... 19 2.2.1 Land use and crops .................................................................................................................... 20 2.2.2 Livestock production systems and their contributions to agricultural livelihoods .................... 22 2.3 FAO and its partners in agricultural recovery and development ............................................... 23 2.3.1 FAO‟s Strategic Framework, 2010–2019 .................................................................................. 23 2.3.2 FAO‟s regional priority areas .................................................................................................... 24 2.3.3 FAO‟s Country Programming Frameworks .............................................................................. 24 2.3.4 FAO‟s ongoing initiatives in the Near East Region .................................................................. 25 2.3.5 International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas .............................................. 25 2.3.6 International Fund for Agricultural Development ..................................................................... 26 3. SITUATION ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................... 27 3.1 Regional and national macro-economic situation...................................................................... 27 3.1.2 Overall economic trends ............................................................................................................ 27 3.1.3 Agricultural trade and marketing ............................................................................................... 28 3.1.4 Availability of agricultural inputs, services and labour ............................................................. 30 3.1.5 Food access and availability ...................................................................................................... 31 3.2 Needs of refugees, returnees and host communities (agriculture sector) .................................. 34 3.2.1 Overall socio-economic situation of affected areas ................................................................... 34 3.2.2 Egypt ......................................................................................................................................... 34 3.2.3 Iraq ............................................................................................................................................. 35 3.2.4 Jordan ........................................................................................................................................ 35 3.2.5 Lebanon ..................................................................................................................................... 36 3.2.6 Turkey ....................................................................................................................................... 37 3.3 Transboundary animal and crop diseases and pests, and environmental threats ....................... 37 3.3.1 Impact of the Syria crisis on animal health in neighbouring countries ..................................... 37 3.3.2 Threat of transboundary crop diseases and pests ....................................................................... 38 3.3.3 Environmental threats ................................................................................................................ 40 3.4 National and international responses to the Syria crisis ............................................................ 40 3.4.1 Governments of neighbouring countries to Syria ...................................................................... 40 3.4.2 United Nations agencies ............................................................................................................ 41 3.4.3 Development partners ................................................................................................................ 42 4. AGRICULTURAL RESPONSE PLANS .............................................................................. 43 4.1 Objective.................................................................................................................................... 43 4.2 FAO‟s comparative advantage .................................................................................................. 43 4.3 Regional Agricultural Response Plans ...................................................................................... 44 4.4 National Agricultural Response Plans ......................................................................................