A farmer balances skilfully on a plank of wood that a horse is drawing across a small patch of earth to cover freshly planted garlic, and as he works other men stand nearby chatting animatedly about the weather.
It is a scene that has been replicated for centuries in the semi-arid hills and valleys of Syria, where farmers harvest crops, tend fruit trees, and herd sheep and goats. But recently, the conversation, punctuated by glances and gestures towards the heavens, has taken on additional urgency as the nation grapples with a three-year drought that experts describe as the worst in four decades.
“It’s getting harder and harder every year,” says Turki Hussein Yezbak, one of the farmers.
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