Agricultural Cooperatives in Koura suffer from unfavorable conditions || Newspapers (Arabic)

On the occasion of 2012 international year for the Cooperatives, the Assafir newspaper continued to publish reports on different cooperatives in Lebanon focusing on the area of Koura.  The new article noted that the Agricultural cooperatives located in Koura suffer from poor public services and an absence of official support in addition to an overall fading trust in their capacities, a decrease in membership size and inability to address the needs of farmers.  Despite the overall similarities amongst agricultural cooperatives, those in Koura focus on problems related to the production of olive oil thus making this their top priority.  The Koura cooperatives highlighted their need for high quality laboratories to test the quality of their olive oil, as well as for government to buy part of their production, ensure access to internal and external markets, and securing social and health coverage for the membership.

According to the As Safir coverage, there are currently nine olive oil cooperatives in Koura: “Olive Developing Cooperative in Cossba”, “Deir Sayydet Hammatoura Cooperative”, “Olive Processing Cooperative in Dar Be’eshtar”, “Bechmezzin Cooperative”, “Bnehran Cooperative”, “Rural Koura Cooperative”, “Crops' Developing Cooperative in Bkomra”, “Development and Services Cooperative in Koura” and “Olive farmers Cooperative in Koura”

Ms. Dolla Habib, the president of the Agricultural Cooperative in Koura and which also specializes in olive oil production talked to the Assafir newspaper about the difficulties that the cooperatives face. She indicated that she visited political leaders in the area who provided her with an amount of money that she used to buy a tractor as well as other equipments to be used by other cooperatives that are unable to have access to such needed services.

The report also pointed out that despite the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture distributed last year various agriculture inputs and equipments needed (machines, fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, etc…) which benefited equally to all cooperatives, yet the cooperatives have other pressing needs namely tax exemptions, supporting small projects in rural areas, resolving the issue of common lands, digging wells, setting up emergency funds, directly supporting the cooperatives to market their products and decreasing the costs of production.

Source: Assafir, 3 November 2012