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Industry minister Imad Hobballah, inaugurated on Saturday “Khairat Jabal Amel” Farmer’s in the Tyre town of Abbasiyeh. Organized by the Regional Cooperative Union in South Lebanon in collaboration with “Good Tree Association” (al Shajarah al Tayibah), the market will be open to the public every Saturday from 9 am- 8 pm throughout the year. On the occasion, Hobballah stated that the economy should be productive, stressing that no economy, food security or social security is complete except when citizens return to their roots and lands. The minister hoped the farmers’ market will boost commercial and reciprocal exchange activity while contributing to the marketing of agro-food production in Tyre and the environs. He looked forward to streamline the model in various Lebanese regions. In conclusion, Hobballah said he anticipated the farmer’s market will become an opportunity for joint cooperation on the way to achieving sustainable development through building up real partnership between the government and public sectors. (Al Diyar, July 5, 2020)
 

Citing a study published by AUB, Al Akhbar reported that around 21.5% of adult females and 48.6% of adult males in Lebanon are cigarette smokers against respectively 46.2 % and 32.7% young females and males who smoke water-pipe or hookah. The prevalence of smoking among underage, Al Akhbar wrote, is more staggering. Nearly 32.9% of young women against 40.9% of young men aged between 13-17 years, are current smokers (with an average of more than 36% of total underage), according to the Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) for 2017. Citing an earlier study by AUB, Al Akhbar also mentioned that Lebanon ranked first out of 68 countries around the world in terms of rates of water-pipe smokers’ among the young population. It pointed to different types of tobacco consumption by minors which made imperative to enter Medwakh pipes (Arabian product consisting of dried shredded tobacco mixed with herbs and spices) in the student targeted surveys. It said that respectively 2.7% and 6.7% of young males and females (aged 12 to 18) are current Medwakh smokers! On the subject, Rana Saleh, Advocacy and Evidence Lead Specialist at the Knowledge to Policy (K2P) Center, AUB, told Al Akhabr that smoking rates in Lebanon are alarming, adding that when a person starts nicotine intake at a young age, Saleh explained, he/she will develop other forms later on in life.  (For more, kindly review the following link: https://bit.ly/2NHfisV). (Al Akhbar, June 30, 2020)
 

The minister of agriculture and culture, Abbas Mortada, voiced his concern yesterday over the deteriorating situation where daily bread has become like gold dust under a government unable to meet the demands of its people. Mortada was speaking during the graduation ceremony of some 100 students of the Agriculture School organized by the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST) at the agricultural village in Baalbeck. We have set off with good intentions and sailed through crises, facing financial and economic breakdown, Mortada said. He pointed out that food security and food sovereignty have become harder to achieve in the absence of a strong founded national economy. “We have relied on a rentier, unsustainable and unproductive economic system,” he added. “But despite the difficult journey, the government is trying to invent solutions and provide services,” Mortada stated. He expressed disbelief over Lebanon’s signing of agreements to import certain agricultural commodities of which the sector suffers a surplus in production. Pledging to increase subsidized agricultural inputs, Mortada concluded by saying: “The ministry will regulate the importer-to-farmer distribution chain.” (Al Diyar, June 29, 2020)
 

As part of initiatives to boost food security, Jihad Al Bina2 launched recently the “Farmers Market” project in the Southern Suburbs of Beirut, Tyre and Hermel areas to encourage farmer-to-consumer direct marketing. Speaking to Al Akhbar daily, the general director of Jihad Al Binaa, Mohamad Khansa, said the venture will begin with three markets as a first phase, revealing that the purpose is to help farmers who are actually the weakest and most vulnerable link in the food supply chain and to sustain food sovereignty as a fundamental part of national sovereignty. Khansa explained that Lebanon imports nearly 85% of its basic goods (80% of meats and livestock for slaughter; 50% of animal-based white products; 100% of yellow cheeses and butter and around 50% of fish and sea food). The fiscal policy, he stressed, has been hushing up the crisis, but now after the coronavirus, “everything has come into the open and we are at risk of a major food crisis,” as he said. Nonetheless, Khansa added, the ordeal was an eye opener for many, raising societal awareness on seeking food sovereignty in the place of fast profit and consumption behavior. Food, he maintained, is not an ordinary commodity, but rather a political security one that cannot be subject to supply and demand. In other words, in food terms, one cannot afford to choose low-cost import over high-cost production. Bottom line, basic crops are sovereign commodities that are not benchmarked according to economic profit only. In conclusion, Khansa disclosed that Jihad al Bina2 and Hezbollah have tried to lobby the state to actively take part in increasing grain production, but their attempts were hampered by bureaucratic difficulties. He added that available areas for cultivation, can go a long way towards self-sufficiency and food security if a clear agro-food strategy is adopted, and thus loosen Lebanon dependency on international trade. In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that currently, and on average, the share of a single Lebanese farmer out of each LBP 1000 paid for any kind of vegetables or fruit is a mere LBP 190. (For more, kindly refer to the following link: https://bit.ly/3hZJ9L7). (Al Akhbar, June 25, 2020)
 
 

In its issue of today, Al Akbar newspaper wrote that Lebanese officials are busy talking about food security, while overlooking the urgency of salvaging the Litani River from the waste waterways flowing from nearby households, factories and farms. At the same time, they are negligent about protecting their agricultural basins through adjusting the parameters and preventing any change to land classification. The newspaper stressed that it is not possible to look into any food security strategy without treating the polluted waters of the Qaroun Lake. Over and above, the Litani irrigation projects are now threatened to discontinue due to environmental and funding difficulties. According to Al Akhbar, the Litani River Authority currently invests in three irrigation systems, namely (Qasimiyeh, Saida and Jezzine, in addition to the irrigation plan for South West Bekaa area), but the Lebanese state opts, as always, to prioritise import at the expense of sustainable development solutions. Like for example, the government is faltering in the implementation of the law stipulating the allocation of funds for land expropriation in the Litani basin from the source to the river mouth at a value of LBP 1100. The government also wavers in implementing a scheme to reduce Qaroun pollution based on a loan agreement of USD 55 million with the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Speaking to Al Akhbar, the director of the Litani River Authority, Sammy Alawiyeh, voiced his fear that the first phase of the project might not be completed by 2021. The said project is anticipated to irrigate around 13,000 hectares benefiting 102 villages and towns in the area. Alawiyeh stressed the role the Arab and Kuwaiti Funds in funding the second phase as well. “We cannot discuss food security in the gutter,” he concluded. For more, kindly review the following link: https://bit.ly/383AmmM). (Al Akhbar, June 23, 2020)