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Agriculture in 2020: Hard luck, losses and disasters
21-12-2020
The head of the Beqaa Farmers Association, Ibrahim Tarshishi, disclosed in an interview with Al Markaziya portal that 2020 was a year of hard luck for Lebanese farmers due to the sequential losses that led to a considerable decline in the income of sector workers. The rise in prices of some agricultural products, Tarshishi said, did not benefit farmers, but a few of them, as the majority were not fortunate to plant a variety of crops. This year registered a record low in export, he grieved, criticizing the government’s irresponsible policy which fostered import and obstructed export activity. As for the subsidy policy, which specifically targeted fodder crops, Tarshishi said it was unserviceable to the agricultural sector, adding, money was squandered uselessly, while not buttressing domestic production. Tarshishi slammed the suspension of negotiations between Lebanon and neighboring Syria aimed to ease taxes on Lebanese trucks. He urged the forthcoming government to direct funds to the ministry of agriculture only, cautioning against merging them with other sectors. The agriculture ministry, he maintained, should be a sovereign one that which gives the sector worth attention, especially that agriculture sustains food security, boosts local production and upholds Lebanon’s position on the Middle East agricultural map. Finally, Tarshishi hoped Lebanon politicians ditch their narrow interests and form a government that works to strengthen ties with Arab states in order to keep their markets open for made-in-Lebanon goods, as well as prioritize export, regulate subsidies with focus on fertilizers, seeds and medicines, and halt the import of any locally-grown products. (Al Diyar, December 21, 2020)
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- العربية
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