Rainfed agriculture is practiced in the hilly land areas that extend from northwestern Syria to the Mediterranean coast with irrigation facilities remaining practically undeveloped. Olive cultivation is most successful in this region, and in addition, wheat and cherries are grown there although their share of the total agricultural production is small (Wattenbach, 2006).

Hills where olive cultivation is prosperous account for a large percentage of the area of MagharaVillage in the northwestern governorate of Aleppo. In this village, land is cultivated to plant olive seeds during the period from autumn to spring when much rain generally falls. The most commonly used method of cultivation (fadhan) is to have donkeys or mules pull a plow, an agricultural implement to turn the soil over first in preparation for the sowing and the planting of the seedlings. In general, while fadhan is used for steep slopes and irregular land, mechanized farming is employed for the easily accessible, large tracts of land. Some farmers cultivate strips of land along the contours (contour plowing), a way of farming that is effective in preventing soil erosion due to rainwater and the outflow of water, while others till the slopes vertically from high to low levels, which causes soil erosion. Most of the farmers do not use agricultural chemicals for olive cultivation, but they often put fertilizer on the olive groves. The olives are generally harvested from the end of October to the end of December, and the harvesting season is sometimes extended to January. Olives are usually picked by hand, and in many cases, harvesting work is performed by members of each farmer’s family (Van der Zanden, 2011). Furthermore, traditional techniques are used in the olive orchards to protect soil and water. One prominent example of these is the use of stone walls. Other examples include vegetation strips, which are formed by leaving wild plants uncut along the contours, and a combination of stone walls with semi-circular terraces created on the lower part of slopes where the trees grow. All these techniques are effective in reducing the volume and rate of flow of surface water to prevent soil erosion. They are also effective in increasing the ability of the soil to retain moisture. Still another example is a water collection technique that involves raising the ground level around trees in a V shape to channel all the rainwater running in the ditches to sink into the ground because part of the hilly land in the northwestern part of the country is often plagued by water shortages (Van der Zanden, 2011).

The stone wall technique has traditionally been handed down from generation to generation. In olden times, land was manually developed bit by bit using this technique starting from areas in which the conditions were favorable. Old terraced fields use the microtopography of slopes skillfully, and it is inferred that in an effort to minimize the labor required for the construction of stone walls and to maximize their effects, farmers observed the original geographical features, the way the rainwater flows after rainfall, and other conditions in extreme detail. The stone walls that have been mechanically built according to design drawings in recent years, meanwhile, are said to be more likely to collapse than traditional ones, although they are beautifully finished at first glance (Appropriate Agriculture International Co., Ltd., 1997).

Olive cultivation is the most important traditional agricultural activity in the Mediterranean coastal areas, and olive orchard landscapes are culturally valuable (Van der Zanden, 2011). They are also important for food production, providing local residents with part of the food they need. One of its economic benefits is to contribute to value added agricultural production and the gross national product (GNP), and another is the acquisition of foreign currency through the export of olives and olive oil. Syria is currently the world’s fifth largest olive producer with olives accounting for 65% of the country’s garden produce. Olives are one of Syria’s most important crops in that the olive sector earns the nation 25% of its income directly or indirectly through their cultivation and processing into olive oil (80% of the total olive production), storage, transport, export, and so forth, and olive cultivation is considered an important industry for the creation of employment (Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic, n.d.).

The environmental importance of olive cultivation lies in the prevention of soil erosion using traditional techniques such as stone walls and techniques for the effective use of water, as well as the utilization of land (such as semidry areas, slopes, and other types of land) for which there are only limited uses other than olive culture. Furthermore, olive cultivation is effective in curbing the process of desertification.