The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Syria to allow farmers in the crisis-torn country, which is ravaged by food shortages, to harvest their crops.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Syria to allow farmers in the crisis-torn country, which is ravaged by food shortages, to harvest their crops.

"With indications that the 2015 harvest in Syria may exceed the last two years' harvests at a time of massive food insecurity and internal displacement, it is paramount that crops are not lost and that food stays within the country," WFP director Ertharin Cousin said in a statement.

"Without a humanitarian pause by all sides" to facilitate the transport of food across the country, Syrians in some areas would "still go hungry despite a good harvest", Cousin added.

In the absence of a truce, food prices would also remain high, the statement warned.