ALEPPO, Syria — The Syrian opposition's self-styled interim government in north Syria has been recently working on a plan to purchase large quantities of grains, namely wheat, from local farmers with the aim to boost stocks needed to produce bread. The move is intended to partially reduce the effects of the global food crisis and the risks linked to wheat imports amid the deteriorating economic situation in north Syria.

Syria ranked among the 10 most food insecure countries in the world this year, according to the United Nations. In a February report, the UN said that 12 million people suffer from limited or unsustainable access to food. 

In its 2021 annual Country Report Feedback, the World Food Program said that three out of five Syrians suffer from food insecurity given the continuous rise in food prices and the deterioration of the Syrian economy.

With the beginning of each harvest season in Syria, the competition to buy wheat crops from local farmers escalates between the Syrian regime, the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, and the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition. Each party sets a higher price to buy the crops, which gives merchants the opportunity to sell to the party that pays the higher price.