TriplePundit • A Refugee-Led Cooperative Supported Thousands of Syrians in Greece. Now, They’re Bringing Organic Farming Home.

Mahmoud Barhum crouches amid neat rows of radish and lettuce seedlings on his small organic plot in Qumaisa, a quiet village nestled in the rural rolling hills on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. He counts each sprout with care, imagining how many farmers in his community will benefit from this season’s harvest.

Barhum works a plot measuring less than an acre, where he set up a volunteer nursery to raise radish, lettuce, garden cress, and other crops he distributes to villagers free of charge. “Hybrid chemical seeds might give you bigger and prettier produce, but organic plants have a real smell and taste,” he told TriplePundit.

The nursery is a rarity in Syria, where nearly all farming now relies on chemical inputs, said Akram Afif, an agricultural expert and founder of the Syrian Family-Projects Cooperation.

The pressure to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides mounted during the 14-year Syrian civil war. Between 2011 and 2016 alone, the nation’s rural population fell by half as crop and livestock production declined, irrigation systems were destroyed, large swaths of farmland were damaged, and the cost of essentials like seeds, fertilizers and pesticides increased.

By 2022, Syrian farmers depended on imported fertilizers and agricultural chemicals bought at black-market rates, sending costs soaring and cutting into both crop yields and quality.

“Chemical agriculture killed the soil’s living bacteria and the worms that turn organic matter into fertilizer,” Afif said. “Many countries have returned Syrian exports because the chemical residue exceeded acceptable limits.”

Barhum’s desire to return to organic farming took root four years ago while scrolling on Facebook. He was inspired by Solidarity Fields, an organic agricultural cooperative founded in 2015 by Syrian refugee Suleiman Dakdouk, one of more than 1 million Syrians who fled to Greece by mid-2015.

From refugee fields to Syrian soil

In 2015, Solidarity Fields founder Suleiman Dakdouk and fellow Syrian refugees in Greece revived abandoned schools and rehabilitated them into living spaces, with funds from the Syrian Free Expatriates Association in Greece and the help of international volunteers.

But the relief efforts felt insufficient. Dakdouk wanted refugees to move beyond relying on handouts from the organizations he saw as profiting from their suffering, so he focused on reclaiming abandoned land and cultivating it organically.

“The idea began with just 0.4 hectares, two cows and three sheep,” Dakdouk said.

Over time, the project expanded to more than 15 hectares (almost 40 acres), with sheep and cattle spread across displaced communities, producing 28 types of cheese, 20 tons of wheat, 10 tons of lentils, nine tons of chickpeas and about five tons of wine a year. Solidarity Fields eventually began selling its products and opened a restaurant serving only what it grew organically.

“Within two years, it had provided work for 13,620 refugees,” Dakdouk said. Today, 17 families and 29 individuals remain in Greece working at Solidarity Fields. The cooperative divides revenue based on need and hours worked, blending cash with barter, and sends 25 to 30 percent of the profits back to Syria to fund humanitarian and development projects.

Solidarity Fields takes root in Syria

After longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad’s regime was ousted in late 2024, more than 3 million displaced Syrians returned home, including Dakdouk and the minds behind Solidarity Fields. Bringing their experience in Greece with them, the team aimed to rebuild Syria’s agriculture industry one seedling at a time, starting with agricultural villages in impoverished and underserved areas.

Solidarity Fields has distributed 1.2 million free-of-charge seedlings across 33 rural areas in Homs, Hama, Tartous, Latakia and Damascus since January and established training programs in 13 regions. The cooperative funded wells and built rainwater collection tanks for local organic farming groups, and opened the Village Market in Tartous, where farmers sell directly to consumers.

Around 800 farmers have since joined the effort, including Barhum. His land, exhausted from years of chemical use, is recovering its vitality as he applies natural compost. Many farmers are going organic to escape the debt cycle of chemical farming, where they had to buy inputs on credit and spend much of each harvest repaying loans.

Still, the biggest challenge in Syria is spreading the culture of organic farming. Organic practices survived the war only in scattered pockets along the coast and in the Ghab Plain in western Syria, where some farmers still use animal manure in their lemon and vegetable orchards.

“Most people are scared to try it,” Dakdouk said, fearing lower yields.

Older farmers who never used chemicals and saved seeds year after year were quick to contribute. Their seeds were stored in a seed bank or passed to another farmer committed to chemical-free cultivation. The cooperative team also distributed seeds from their Greek operation and the Lebanese group Our Seeds, Our Roots while teaching organic composting techniques.

Sommer Mohammed, a vermicompost specialist volunteering with the team, spent weeks reassuring skeptical farmers that organic fertilizer cuts water use and saves on pesticides, fungicides and chemicals.

“What used to require watering every five days can now be done once a week,” Mohammed said.

Reaping the rewards

Organic produce can be far more profitable for farmers, said agricultural expert Afif. On a tenth of a hectare, a farmer might harvest more than 660 pounds of chemically fertilized crops and earn 2,000 Syrian lira (US$0.18). Harvesting roughly 440 pounds of organic produce on the same plot can fetch double the price, 4,000 Syrian lira (US$0.36).

Syria also possesses enormous quantities of organic material, animal waste and agricultural byproducts that could be converted into fertilizer, Afif added. “The transition would not need foreign organizations, only local trainers and modest equipment like fermentation units and rubber attachments for collecting manure,” Afif said.

Farmer Ahmed Mohammed sees these results on his own farm in Tartous, Syria. He fled Baniyas, Syria, last April after violence swept the coastal region and received housing, a small plot of land, organic fertilizer and seeds such as tomatoes, chard, radishes, green onions and parsley from Solidarity Fields to sustain himself.

“Unlike my old chemically-farmed plot in Baniyas, the produce now tastes delicious, smells fresh and sells for better prices,” Mohammed told TriplePundit.

He sells his harvest at the Tartous Village Market established by Solidarity Fields, instead of relying on the old practice of depending on wholesalers who bought cucumbers for 2,000 Syrian lira and sold them for 10,000, claiming the lion’s share of their earnings.

About 30 miles east in Mashta al-Helou, George Abdel Nour also opened a small market shop stocking products from farmers who participate in Solidarity Fields’ training sessions.

“These new products taste much better than chemically grown ones,” Abdel Nour said. “And more and more farmers are switching over.”

This article is published in collaboration with Egab.