Because only about 16% of the cropped area was irrigated, the output of agriculture was heavily dependent on rainfall. The great variation in the amounts and timing of rainfall can immediately cause very substantial shifts in areas planted, yields, and production, but the effect on farm animal is less predictable. When drought is unusually severe or prolonged, loss of animals may depress farm animal production for several years. In 1984 crop production accounted for 72% of the value of agricultural output; farm animal and animal products, 28%. farm animal alone, not counting products such as milk, wool, and eggs, were 11% of the total.

The government's goal of expanding and diversifying food production created intense competition for irrigated land and promoted the practice of double cropping. Because cotton did not lend itself to double cropping, the cultivated cotton area was declining in real terms. the area under cultivation and significance of other industrial crops substantially increased during the 1980s. For example, the government initiated policies designed to stimulate sugar beet cultivation to supply the sugar factories built in the 1970s and 1980s. The area under cultivation for sugar beets rose from 22,000 hectares in 1980 to 35,700 hectares in 1984, with sugar beet harvests totalling over 1 million tons in 1984. Syria, still imported LS287 million worth of sugar in 1984. USDA around that Syria would achieve tobacco self-sufficiency in 1985, with harvests of 12.3 million tons compared with 12.2 million tons in 1984. Although yields per hectare fell slightly in 1985, USDA expected imports to match exports. In 1984 Syria imported 559 tons of tobacco and exported 225 tons. Other valuable commercial crops included olives and tomatoes.