In recent weeks, several articles published in state-run news outlets discussed the possibility of converting Sahl Al-Ghab “Al-Ghab Plain” in western Hama into a “private agricultural zone.” It’s not clear what is meant by a private agricultural zone, and the regulations governing the agricultural sector have not addressed this concept before. Some articles have suggested that the private agricultural zone is similar to industrial zones and border crossings, where it would operate under independent management and work on developing the infrastructure of agricultural land to support farming and agricultural industries for their products.

It is worth noting that there is already an administrative and service-oriented authority, named General Commission for the Administration and Development of Al-Ghab (GCADA), based in the city of Al-Suqaylabiyeh in the rural parts of Hama. It enjoys legal personality, financial and administrative independence, and is linked to the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform. This GCADA was established under Law No. 20 of 2005 to replace both the General Establishment for Forest Investment Management and Regulation, and the Directorate of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform previously working in Al-Ghab. However, the GCADA faces financial difficulties that limit its effectiveness, and today its role is largely advisory in agriculture, providing vaccines for animals, taking measures to prevent fires during the harvest season, and rehabilitating some irrigation channels sometimes with funding and assistance from international organisations.

Sahl Al-Ghab is located in northwestern Syria, between the coastal mountain range to the west and Mount Shahshabo and Mount Al-Zawiya to the east. The plain used to contain many water swamps on the banks of the Orontes River before they were dried up in the 1950s and converted into irrigated agricultural lands. The plain is a fertile, expansive plain, stretching between the governorates of Hama, Idlib and Lattakia, with a length of 80 kilometres and a width of 10-13 kilometres. Irrigation networks branch off from the Orontes River, making it rich in water resources.

A former employee at the Statistical Department of the GCADA told The Syria Report that the plain had suffered significant neglect before 2011, resulting in a decline in irrigated areas and pushing many farmers to focus on rain-fed crops. Meanwhile, Mustafa Al-Mohammad, the Director of Engineering and Technical Affairs at the GCADA, told the official Al-Baath newspaper on January 30, 2024, that large quantities of irrigation water are wasted in the plain annually, draining through irrigation channels into the Orontes River and then into Turkish-administered territories. He added, “We haven’t invested in a single drop of water since the 1950s, and there has been no comprehensive irrigation project for the Sahl Al-Ghab.”

Agricultural Land and Settlements in Sahl Al-Ghab

In Sahl Al-Ghab, land was distributed to farmers according to Law No. 66 of 1969, which amended Agricultural Reform Law No. 161. Law No. 66 of 1969 authorised the Ministry of Agriculture to distribute state-owned lands to farmers in certain areas, specifying that the irrigated area allocated to each family should not exceed four hectares and should not be less than two and a half hectares.

Farmers who benefited from lands in Sahl Al-Ghab locally are referred to as “licensed” or “investigated” farmers because local committees “investigated” their situations, considering factors such as family size, income level, and whether they owned or invested in other agricultural lands when distributing the land. The state had remained the owner of the land while the farmer had only the right to use it. The most recent amendment to the provisions of agricultural reform was through Law No. 61 of 2004, which considered the beneficiary’s ownership as full ownership, retroactively effective to the date of land grant, and registered in their name in the Land Registry. Under Law No. 61 of 2004, the majority of farmers in the plain now have official ownership documents from the Land Registry and are no longer mere beneficiaries.

In the plain, residential settlements are scattered, with a population of around 325,000 in 2010 according to figures circulated by the official press. Most of these villages formed from clusters of farmers who migrated to the plain after its drying and were allocated agricultural lands there under agrarian reform laws. Most of these migrants came from villages on the edges of the plain. Consequently, the plain appears to be divided longitudinally from north to south, with its eastern lands inhabited by farmers from Idlib, while its western lands are inhabited by farmers from Hama and Lattakia.

A significant portion of farmers and residents in the eastern part of the plain were forcibly displaced during the course of the war, becoming IDPs in opposition-held areas. Their lands are periodically put up for public auction by the governorates of Hama and Idlib for investment purposes. Currently, opposition forces control the northern parts of the Sahl Al-Ghab, making it constantly vulnerable to bombardment by regime forces. This impedes farming during periods of frequent military escalation. Additionally, mines are scattered in some areas of the plain, making water disposal there a dangerous task.

All these complexities make the inclusion of the concept of the “private agricultural zone” as a new legally undefined concept for investing in agricultural lands in Sahl Al-Ghab potentially detrimental to the rights of farmers and residents who were forcibly displaced to opposition-held areas.