Ailing prickly pears of the south threatened with extinction because of official neglect

The disease that has been ravaging Lebanon’s prickly pears since 7 years and inflicting heavy losses in production (down by 90%) has its grounds. It first flared up in the southern villages close to the borders with Occupied Palestine carried by a virus which crossed from the other side of the wired wall, according to farmers claim. The bug was transmitted by an Israeli settler who used to work at a dyehouse and who has imported a special aid material from Argentina that contained this virus; the latter got out of control and spread in the Galilee region and then deep into the Lebanese borders. The problem was further exacerbated by the government’s total disregard of this agricultural disaster as well as by the snow storm and blizzard that hit the country during the past winter. One farmer, Abu Hassan Kadri complained to As Safir newspaper that prickly pears are headed to extinction as growers of these crops are not ready anymore to risk their resources in this business. Another farmer, Hussam Harfoush, said that his prickly pear orchard in Al Hasbani River basin has miraculously survived the disease after using special pesticides once a week. He went on to say that such a treatment is useful if applied on a national scale and in collaboration with the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment. According to data collected by agricultural cooperatives in the area and as explained by Nuhad Abu Hamdan from the Cooperative for Arid Farming and Seedlings, prickly pear production has witnessed a sharp decline this year. In the past five years, villages in Hasbaya and Arkoub districts produced some 10 thousand tons of prickly pears that were sold in the retail domestic markets at LBP 20-25 thousand per 100 pieces, whereas this year, production will barely reach 600-700 tons. (As Safir, 12 August 2015)