Citrus growers in Batrun bid farewell to the devastated harvest

The coastal area of the northern town of Al Batrun, like other coastal areas in Lebanon, is reputed for its citrus fruits since it boasts the right type of soil and has greatly benefited from the completion of the irrigation project in Nahr Al Jawz. Despite the general decline in citrus farming after the construction of the coastal international highway that cuts through the cultivated land, citrus plantations in Batrun remained the primary source of livelihoods for a great number of families. Farmers from all across the country came to the region in order to invest in citrus orchards. Grieving about their waning production, Batrouni citrus growers now seem pessimistic about the forthcoming season in the aftermath of the devastating blizzards and storms that damaged their trees and seeds. Farmers complain about the losses incurred and the money they paid in vain and which left them largely indebted to pesticide and fertilizers merchants. Farmer Ra2eef Raji informed As Safir newspaper that he owes “300 trees of clementine and affawi fruits that used to yield USD 7000 in profit, unlike this season which will barely bring him USD1000” adding: “Even the twigs and the dried up fruits on the trees have decomposed.” He appealed to the government and the Agriculture Ministry to compensate the farmers, adding this was not the first lost season and that the one of next year will also probably be lost because of damages to trees. Raji went on to say, “The storm has hit and broke citrus trees leaving only naked buds.” Another citrus grower, Samir Moussa, who relocated to Batrun from the mountains in order to invest in a 65 acre of land said, “The hail storm which hit the mandarin trees began early October and was followed with another devastating storm that hit the affawi citrons.” He decried his loss of some 2000 boxes accounting for LBP 30 million, which he used to pay for his dues and cover the farming costs of the forthcoming season. (As Safir, 5 March 2015)