Through the eyes of humanitarians

On the high-risk road from Deir ez-Zor to Al-Hasakeh, Khalid Omar and Abdul-Hakim Al-Diwani found themselves debating a line of roadside pine trees as they travelled to meet farming families receiving emergency agricultural assistance. They made effective windbreaks, one observed. Yes, the other agreed, but argued they consumed too much water for this water-stressed region.

It was a small moment that captured exactly who they are: agricultural engineers on a humanitarian mission.
"Our dream is to help restore Syria's place as one of history's great agricultural nations," Khalid says.

Abdul-Hakim finishes the thought.

"But today, our mission is to help farming families survive, prevent them from falling deeper into acute food insecurity and keep hope alive,"

Years of hardships and climatic shocks have devastated rural livelihoods across northeast Syria. Farms have been abandoned, livestock lost and vulnerable families have exhausted every possible means of coping. Khalid and Abdul-Hakim know these hardships firsthand. Both are from northeast Syria, and both were impacted. Rather than walking away, they chose to stand with their communities.

For them, every family that can plant another season or keep its livestock alive has another chance to survive.

This is what the Syria Humanitarian Fund (SHF) has made possible through its support to the emergency response of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in northeast Syria. Through this project, FAO is providing 11 072 livestock-keeping households (66 400 people) with animal feed and 4 500 farming households (27 000 people) with vegetable production packages, helping families continue producing food, protect their livelihoods and avoid negative coping strategies.

^{Standing beside the ruins of her former home, Amina reflects on everything her family has lost during the 14-year conflict. Today, her small flock of sheep represents more than livestock, it’s her family's source of food, income and hope. ©FAO/Mazen Haffar.}

"SHF’s support came at exactly the right time," Khalid says.

Abdul-Hakim agrees.

"It enabled us to quickly reach communities that had gone without life-saving assistance for far too long. For many families, this support meant protecting both their ability to grow food and the livestock they depend on for survival,"

^{Community members in Al-Hasakeh share their concerns with Khalid (centre left) and Abdul-Hakim (centre right). While describing the SHF-supported assistance as critical to protecting their livelihoods, they stress that many more vulnerable farming and livestock-keeping families are left behind. Across their communities, the needs far exceed the resources available. Increased funding is essential to reach those left behind with life-saving emergency agricultural assistance. ©FAO/Mazen Haffar.}

For Khalid and Abdul-Hakim, every field visit ends with the same thought: not about the families they reached, but those they had to leave behind. Across Syria, 13.3 million people require food security and agricultural livelihoods assistance. Yet between 2016 and 2024, for every USD 100 of humanitarian assistance to food sectors, only USD 2.5 was invested in emergency agricultural assistance. That has to change.