Much emphasis has been placed by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas on development of dryland areas in the West Asia – North Africa region, especially in the host country Syria. Application of applied soil fertility research and promotion of appropriate fertilizer management practices have been given emphasis in the rainfed and, increasingly, irrigated areas, from the very dry marginal areas where cultivated cropping is precarious at best to the more favorable areas where most crops can be reliably grown . As a result of such efforts the past few decades, fertilizer use has become common practice, even in barley-growing areas where no fertilizer was previously grown. Thus our survey of current fertility and fertilizer use practices dealt with both dryland and irrigated farmers in a range of rainfall zones, from about 150 to over 600 mm yr1. Most farmers used nitrogen and phosphorus, but no potassium or micronutrients, as these elements were well supplied in the soil. Fertilizer use was higher in the irrigated farms. However, in both systems there was evidence of too much fertilizer use, especially N and to a lesser extent P. Very high levels of available P and mineral N support these observations. In addition, from questionnaire responses it was apparent that the available fertilizer- use guidelines and support services were not reaching most farmers. From the economic and environmental standpoints, more rationale approaches have to be adopted. The study calls for greater awareness the implications of this study by the extension service, and the promotion of soil testing and on-farm demonstration on rational N and P fertilizer use.