Middle East: Middle East Wild Crops Essential for World Food Security

Sep 29, 2014 | Nadia El-Awady, Nature Middle East
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Wild-growing crops in the Middle East could be key to global food security and should be protected and utilised. Two areas in Syria have the world’s highest concentration of these crops, known as crop wild relatives (CWR). One area is in Talkalakh in western Syria bordering Lebanon and the other is in As-Suwayda in southern Syria near the borders of Jordan and Palestine. Other high concentrations of CWR are found throughout the Fertile Crescent area, which includes Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Some of these important wild crops are in areas of conflict, such as those in northern Iraq.