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Geography

The Syrian Arab Republic covers a land area of about 185,180 km2. It shares borders with Turkey in the north, Iraq in the east and south-east, Jordan in the north, Palestine in the south-west and Lebanon in the west, where it includes a narrow coastal plain on the Mediterranean Sea. The terrain is mainly semi-arid and desert plateau, with mountains in the west. The climate is Mediterranean , with a continental influence and extremes of temperature in areas such as the steppes. More than half of the country receives less than 200 mm of rainfall annually on average, and only 15 per cent receives more than 600 mm. Rainfall is most plentiful in the coastal region and along the border with Turkey.

About half of Syria's 18.0 million people (mid 2004) live in rural areas. The annual population growth rate in 2004 was an estimated 2.5 per cent.

Agriculture

Less than one third of the country's land is cultivable. In 2004 the cultivated area covered about 5.5 million ha. About 55 per cent of the land consists of natural pastures, rocky desert and mountains, while only 3 per cent is forest. The supply of water, or lack of it, is a crucial constraint on agriculture, which consumes 89 per cent of the available water supply. Irrigated farming accounts for about 50 per cent of crop output. Small-scale farming predominates. The main crops are wheat, cotton, sugar beet, barley, fruits and vegetables. The production, pricing and marketing of wheat, cotton and sugar beet are controlled by the government's centralized planning system, while control of other so-called strategic crops, including barley, tobacco, lentil and chick pea, has gradually been relaxed. Private enterprises are prevalent in the fruit and vegetable industry and the livestock sector.

The country is divided into five agricultural settlements zones (ASZ) by several variables, the most important of which are altitude and annual precipitation.

Economy

In the early 1990s the Government of Syria began to direct economic policy away from centralized planning to a more liberal system. At that time the discovery of large oil reserves initiated a decade of high growth, but in recent years economic advances have lost momentum. Between 1999 and 2003 the growth of the economy did not keep up with the growth of the population, resulting in a decline in living standards and an increase in unemployment, particularly among young people entering the job market. The principal causes of the slowdown in growth were declining oil production and the impact of regional conflicts on export and investment.

Signs of recovery since 2004 reflect the success of ongoing reforms such as adoption of free trade, creation of a free investment climate, liberalization of the country's monetary policy and deregulation of the banking and financial system.

Source: IFAD