Aid to small-scale farmers to improve milk production in the North

Milk production and processing equipments were distributed to 60 dairy farmers at the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Tripoli and the North. The beneficiaries from the different rural localities in North Lebanon were trained on handling these machineries before receiving them. This project comes within the framework of the program to ‘Enhance the Livelihood and Food Security of Vulnerable Lebanese Women’ implemented by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in cooperation with the ministry of agriculture and funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. (AICS). During the ceremony, the head of the agriculture department in the North, Iqbal Ziadeh, underlined, on behalf of the minister, the importance of setting up agricultural cooperatives and ongoing collaboration with the agriculture ministry to this effect. He stressed the role of the ministry in providing support to the milk and dairy production sector, pointing out that it will follow up the farmers participating in the project to ensure improved production. For his part, the president of the Chamber, Tawfic Dabusi, drew attention to the pivotal role played by the ministry of agriculture in the national economy, particularly at the level of food security and in encouraging rural households and small scale men and women farmers to steadfast in their villages. (Al Diyar, March 1, 2017)