Potentials of Cropping Systems’ Diversification in North-East Syria, for Enhanced Sustainability in Farming Systems

The Syrian Arab Republic is a country which depends on agriculture as a second main sector in economy after oil industry, but the governmental strategies for the agricultural production diminished sustainability of the farming systems. Cropping systems‟ diversification is a practical application for enhancing sustainability through the collective benefits of the increased biodiversity in the agroecosystem, in order to view the potentials of such diversification it is required to evaluate the studied system properly to reveal its weakness and strength points. By collecting data from the internet, mainly the publications which are related to Al-Hassakeh governorate in the North-Eastern part of Syria, published by the international organizations like FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), ICARDA (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas), and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). The FAO Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems guidelines (SAFA) and the principles of Agroecology master‟s programme were used to analyze these data to assess the sustainability of the farming systems in Al-Hassakeh, and discuss the possibility of creating a diversified cropping system. It was found that farming systems in Al-Hassakeh have a multiple negative impact on the environmental and social aspects, but profitable yet not sufficient economic outcome. The area of Al-Hassakeh is promising in term of increasing its cropping systems sustainability due to variation of water availability and climate conditions that provide suitable cultivation environment for a variety of crops that can be used in cropping systems‟ diversification.