Twits and promises to resolve the apple marketing glut

The crisis in marketing the domestic apple production worsened during the past years ‎amidst continuous general neglect by government of the agriculture sector, while As Safir daily ‎anticipated, big losses inflicted on apple growers, as a result of the fall in prices to LBP 5 and 6 ‎thousand per one box compared to 20-26 thousand in the past few years. The current glut in ‎production extends from Akkar in the North to Sheb3a in the South, and to the Beqaa in the ‎East. The crisis erupted last Monday with the protest action by the Agriculture Cooperative in ‎Aqura which demonstrated under the motto: ‘a day of wrath” in protest against official neglect. ‎In Tanourine al Fawka, farmers rallied last Sunday to protest against their inability to market this ‎year’s harvest. Likewise, farmers in Barouk and Feidiss, in the Shuf, staged a symbolic street sit-‎in demanding a solution to the crisis. Meanwhile, on the official scene, several promises and ‎declarations were noted. One particular official position came through a tweet by foreign minister ‎Jibran Bassil spelling out in his anecdotal twitter the solution to the crisis, which is to press aid ‎agencies to purchase the entire apple season. His trade colleague, Alan Hakim, suggested ‎subsidizing one crate of apples at LBP 7500 while at the same time supporting the full shipping ‎‎ cost to outside markets. Agriculture minister, Akram Shehayeb, for his part, announced that his ‎ministry is seeking to secure public subsidies for the cooling the unsold quantities of apples. He ‎said the ministry is also negotiating with KAFALAT sal to reschedule, by facilitating or ‎postponing, some farmers loans with banks, and has approached international organizations ‎through the ministry of social affairs to purchase the season and distribute it among the displaced ‎Syrians. He also pointed out to current talks with Egypt and Joran to open their markets to ‎Lebanese apple exports. (The Daily Star, L’Orient Le Jour, Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, As Safir, Al ‎Akhbar, An Nahar, September 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 2016)‎