News updates

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization issued a warning of an imminent outbreak of high impact trans-boundary animal diseases in Lebanon and neighboring countries in the wake of the fleeing of some 1.5 million refugees who have brought with them large numbers of unvaccinated sheep, cattle and goats. The Organization is now carrying out the second phase of an emergency campaign to immunize as much of the country’s livestock as possible. Likewise, the Lebanese Agriculture Ministry has warned that the epidemic could hit some 70000 cattle and 900000 sheep and goats. One farmer from the Beqaa complained, “The most common problem now is the animal fever,” adding, “some animals are actually dying, which directly affects the farmers’ livelihoods.” According to FAO estimates almost 60% of livestock farmers in Lebanon depend on dairy animals as their main source of income. (Al Diyar, 12 April 2015)

Following his tweet last December to legalize the cultivation of cannabis in Lebanon and rescind arrest warrants of related suspects, MP Walid Jumblat reiterated in an interview with L’Orient Le Jour two days ago the importance of legalizing the growing of this crop and regulating its consumption. While praising the medical uses of ‘hashish’ and its effective contribution to economic growth, Jumblat stressed that such a move is the only solution to improve the living conditions in Baalbek and Hermel area. He recalled the failure of the policies of late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and United Nation plans to develop alternative crops. On this subject, the newspaper spoke to an agriculture engineer from Hermel, Juhaina Dandash, who while objecting to the cultivation of cannabis, emphasized that they presented the only option. Dandash said she planted potato, lettuce and almonds but was not very successful this year in marketing her production due to many reasons, primarily, fierce competition by foreign products, such as Egyptian potato, and the absence of clear government policies. As for alternative crops like sunflower, almond, hazelnuts and saffron, she noted that they are not figure among the priorities of government and therefore do not receive the needed marketing support. In a similar note, one Beqaa farmer expressed his support to the growing of cannabis in the absence of a sustainable agriculture development strategy, the high labor costs, unfair competition and total government neglect of farmers and huge losses incurred over the past years. On the other side, the President of the Farmers’ Grouping in Beqaa, Ibrahim Tarshishi expressed his strong opposition to cannabis cultivation while questioning the criteria on which Jumblat based his arguments. He also criticized the baffling public policies in tacitly condoning then hunting hashish producers. (L’Orient Le Jour, 15 & 16 April 2015)

Chaired by MP Simon Abi Ramya, the Youth and Sports Committee organized a seminar under the slogan ‘open the door to the youth’ aimed at motivating the young generation to stay and steadfast in their homeland. The event which was held at the Parliament’s public library tackled problems faced by youth and ways to improve their conditions and reduce the level of emigration among them. The seminar was attended by MPs Fadi Karam, Khaled Zahraman, Ali Ammar, Hikmat Deeb, Dori Cham3un and representatives of political parties and NGOs, namely Masar association which is operating in the field of social youth development. Voicing his concern over the growing trend of migration of young generation, Abi Ramya stated: “unfortunately the only door open for youth is immigration,” noting that an estimated 66% of this age group are currently residing outside the country. Representative of the Ministry for Youth and Sports, Joseph Saadallah, announced several proposals by his Ministry to translate the youth charter approved in 2012 into action, so as to develop the participation of the youth in the economic and political life of the country. For his part, Massar President, Kamal Chaya pointed out that the youth makes up about 28% of the total population of Lebanon, 41% of its workforce, and 44% of the total number of male immigrants. Following that film entitled ‘Open the Door to Youth’ was screened to participants. (An Nahar, 10 April 2015)

A study carried out by the American Expert Market institution on the participation of women in decision-making indicated that only 8.4% of women in Lebanon occupy leadership posts. According to the survey, Lebanon ranked 93 among the 100-country sampling list. However, Lebanon preceded some Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabic (94) and Qatar (95). The study, based on 2014 data compiled by the International Labor Organization, indicated that the percentage of women in managerial positions is almost nil in Egypt and Morocco, whereas, Central and Latin American countries topped the list with Jamaica coming first with the highest percentage of women in managerial positions (59.3%) followed by Colombia (53.1%). For their part, countries of Europe and the United States ranked in the middle, with US ranking 15th, France 24th and Britain 41st.
For more info on the study, please visit the following link:

http://www.expertmarket.com/female-managers

(L’Orient Le Jour, 7 April 2015)

Beekeeping has grown to become one of the large sector in agriculture and a good contributor to the economy, employing some seven thousand beekeepers across Lebanon, mainly in the South. Workers in the industry, especially in the southern areas, have expressed optimism in a thriving honey season owing to high rainfall rates this year, contrary to last year’s draught which destroyed a large number of beehives. Muhammad Sha3aito who has worked in this field for almost two decades said that beekeeping is developing significantly with a growing number of beekeepers using modern technologies and regularly being training by local and international organizations. Similarly, Vice President of the Syndicate of Beekeepers in the South, Mohammad Haidar Hassan, indicated that drugs to control honey bee diseases and pest provided by the Ministry of Agriculture should become accessible to all beekeepers not only those included in the 2010 survey. He added that the number of beekeepers has grown considerably since 2010. “Not delivering the required drugs to the entire community of beekeepers will not ensure proper protection from diseases and pests.” Hassan revealed that Lebanon hosts more than 360 thousand beehives that produce hundreds of tons of honey per season, which are mostly consumed domestically. In this respect, he warned against unlawful completion and called for a halt to illegal imports. (As Safir, 7 April 2015)

The hopes of greater profits by beet growers in Akkar who replaced potato and wheat with beet were frustrated. Absence of government control policies has prevented farmers from selling their produce which is relatively low-cost and easy to grow. Moreover, farmers of Akkar complained once more against the current sluggish markets resulting form fierce foreign competition, namely from Syrian imports. The current situation has forced farmers to cut their prices to as low as LBP 500 per one kilo in order to get ride of their production. One farmer, Abdel Rahman Darwish lamenting the situation, said: “The production cost in Lebanon is relatively high compared to other countries because the Lebanese farmer has to work single-handedly at all levels, having to face alone forces of nature and speculation. Whereas, his peer in neighboring countries, is able to compete in Lebanon’s domestic market because of his government’s support.” (As Safir, 4 April 2015)

(Refer to: Food safety in pickles production and warning to unlicensed factories)

-    Grant a one month ultimatum for unlicensed factories to file their registration papers
-    Compile data on required standards by Ministry of Industry
-    Conduct inspections of factories to be carried out jointly by Ministries of industry, Agriculture and Health
-    Set up a follow-up committee comprising representatives of Ministry of Industry and owners of industrial institutions to prepare regular reports on barrels used in packaging
-    Agreement between pickles producers and manufacturers of packaging containers on reasonable prices and the required quantities and in accordance with agreed quality standards
-    After inspection, barrel containers that do not comply with standards of packaging will be destroyed together with their contents; inspection to be conducted on regular basis
-    Ban the use of recycled containers
-    Draft the right decisions for serial process from the factory to the consumer
-    Communicate to industrialists the ISO mark NL282:2015 identifying safety requirements of plastic material for packaging food products and ensure compliance with these requirements as soon as they are published
-    Authorise the exposure of pickles filled barrel containers to the sun provided they are non-white in color
-    Disseminate a study prepared by USAID on health requirements for the production of pickles
-    Pull out “Food Grade” containers used for packaging of pickles five years after its manufacturing
-    Prepare the Institute for Industrial Research to conduct free laboratory tests on containers as mandated by the Ministry of Industry
-    Provide the Ministry of Industry with the list of licensed and unlicensed factories compiled by health inspectors
-    Comply with Lebanese standard qualifications No. NL2111 for pickles, all other standards regulating food additives, and the parameters for using insecticides
-    Observe mandatory health standards in manufacturing

(Al Diyar, 7 April 2015)
 

The Minister of Industry Hussein Haj Hassan reassured the agriculture and industry sectors that the seaways constitute an available alternative route for Lebanese exports. Speaking to Al Diyar daily, Haj Hassan pointed out that the air and sea freight has been in use by exporters in Lebanon since 2011, but traders prefer the inexpensive and fast land transport. In this respect, chief of the International Chamber of Shipping in Beirut, Elie Zakhur, concurred with the Minister’s statement while saying: “The only real solution resides in the Ro-Ro ships that carry trucks loaded with local agricultural and industrial produce to those Egyptian ports located on the Mediterranean, and then moved overland to another Egyptian port on the Red Sea where they will be re-shipped on container vessels to the ports of Dabba or Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and then proceed by road to their final destination in Gulf countries.” Likewise, Chief of the Lebanese Shipping Agents Syndicate, Hassan Jarudi, told the newspaper that the alternative is through shipping produce in air-cooled carriers to Arab markets by sea. Contrary to Zakhur, Jarudi stated that “the Ro-Ro proposal is not feasible and has only worked out for short and cost effective trips from the port of Tripoli in North Lebanon to Mersin in Turkey.” However, he added, that a ferry freight to Bur Said or Jeddah harbors costs at least USD 11 thousand including USD 7 thousand for the cost of transport of the truck and driver from Beirut and an additional USD 3 thousand the cost of rent of one truck and related paperwork. He recommended relying on air freight through new arrangements with aviation companies that will conduct full flights aboard large aircrafts. “A number of airlines have made generous offers, such as USD 0.5 per one kg of exported items to GCC countries,” he said.

(Al Diyar, 7 April 2015)

Is the seaway the export alternatives to Syrian crossings?

The Minister of Industry Hussein Haj Hassan reassured the agriculture and industry sectors that the seaways constitute an available alternative route for Lebanese exports. Speaking to Al Diyar daily, Haj Hassan pointed out that the air and sea freight has been in use by exporters in Lebanon since 2011, but traders prefer the inexpensive and fast land transport. In this respect, chief of the International Chamber of Shipping in Beirut, Elie Zakhur, concurred with the Minister’s statement while saying: “The only real solution resides in the Ro-Ro ships that carry trucks loaded with local agricultural and industrial produce to those Egyptian ports located on the Mediterranean, and then moved overland to another Egyptian port on the Red Sea where they will be re-shipped on container vessels to the ports of Dabba or Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and then proceed by road to their final destination in Gulf countries.” Likewise, Chief of the Lebanese Shipping Agents Syndicate, Hassan Jarudi, told the newspaper that the alternative is through shipping produce in air-cooled carriers to Arab markets by sea. Contrary to Zakhur, Jarudi stated that “the Ro-Ro proposal is not feasible and has only worked out for short and cost effective trips from the port of Tripoli in North Lebanon to Mersin in Turkey.” However, he added, that a ferry freight to Bur Said or Jeddah harbors costs at least USD 11 thousand including USD 7 thousand for the cost of transport of the truck and driver from Beirut and an additional USD 3 thousand the cost of rent of one truck and related paperwork. He recommended relying on air freight through new arrangements with aviation companies that will conduct full flights aboard large aircrafts. “A number of airlines have made generous offers, such as USD 0.5 per one kg of exported items to GCC countries,” he said. (Al Diyar, 7 April 2015)