Apple farmers describe relief compensations as ‘humiliating”

The Higher Relief Council centres in a number of areas have witnessed chaos and uproar by dozens of apple growers who flocked to receive what they termed as random, meager and disappointing compensation delivered by HRC staff who were late for their appointments. In this respect, the premises of the Federation of Baalbaq Municipalities witnessed deafening rumble and stampede by reportedly 1100 farmers heading to the premises to get their cheques, to discover later that compensation payments did not exceed LBP 1000 instead of LBP 5000 per apple carton as promised. One farmer, Jaafar Jaafar, described what happened as a ‘humiliating act on part of the government’, while the Mukhtar of Ainata, Fuad Rahmeh, said it was ‘shameful to the Beqaa residents’. He appealed to the heads of the three branches of government by saying: “if you want to rip off the people, you have to spare them in order to guarantee something would be left to pilfer.” For his part, the president of the Lebanese Farmers Association, Antoine Howayek, blasted the government, reiterating his demand to be handed over a copy of the Army surveys filed to the HRC. On this, informed sources told An Nahar newspaper that the finance ministry has pledged to transfer the second and final instalment of compensation, (LBP 20 billion), to the HRC on May 20th, and Howayek remained steadfast in his warning to the government. “The protest of farmers is subject to said transfer, otherwise, taking on the streets will become automatic,” he said. (An Nahar, Al Diyar, May 19 and 20, 2017)

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