I was wondering about the UN estimates of food needs in Syria, and asked a seasoned NGO person in the Middle East on why those needs compare to Lebanon's during the civil war. She wrote me this (I cite with her permission, of course):
"I don't think food needs are inflated in Syria. You cannot compare to Lebanon during the civil war because you have the sanctions there and borders almost closed for commerce though Syria is to some extent self sufficient. There are some similarities such as queuing in front of bakeries. Most commodities are still available but prices are higher. In areas of fighting there are shortages and there is a problem of cooking gas. The real problem is in the rural areas and those who depend on agriculture and livestock. Damages are huge for those people because many fields were not cultivated like wheat for example and hard to find labor and fuel for machinery according to this report. They are talking of 1.5 - 3 million in need of food, those are mainly the poor, the rural people, and the displaced; people who left their homes and live with other families or had to rent or now live in public shelters like schools. Without work and after more than a year and a half most spent all their savings if they had any. And you have heads of families who lost their jobs and who were daily workers, especially construction workers, those no one needs them now, as the era is one of destruction, etc. Its a conservative number actually. I think the needs could be more if you consider poverty levels, the population size and the scale of war. It's hard to survive for many I believe. "
"I don't think food needs are inflated in Syria. You cannot compare to Lebanon during the civil war because you have the sanctions there and borders almost closed for commerce though Syria is to some extent self sufficient. There are some similarities such as queuing in front of bakeries. Most commodities are still available but prices are higher. In areas of fighting there are shortages and there is a problem of cooking gas. The real problem is in the rural areas and those who depend on agriculture and livestock. Damages are huge for those people because many fields were not cultivated like wheat for example and hard to find labor and fuel for machinery according to this report. They are talking of 1.5 - 3 million in need of food, those are mainly the poor, the rural people, and the displaced; people who left their homes and live with other families or had to rent or now live in public shelters like schools. Without work and after more than a year and a half most spent all their savings if they had any. And you have heads of families who lost their jobs and who were daily workers, especially construction workers, those no one needs them now, as the era is one of destruction, etc. Its a conservative number actually. I think the needs could be more if you consider poverty levels, the population size and the scale of war. It's hard to survive for many I believe. "
