Further delays in settlement of compensation for apple farmers

Following the protest actions on June 15 by apple farmers across Lebanon to step up the payment of the second instalment of compensation, the president of the Lebanese Farmers Association, Antoine Howayek, criticized the handling of the issue by the government. The decision to settling the next payment was already approved, Howayek said, voicing concern over the delay. The previous cabinet of Premier Tamam Salam has agreed last October to pay a sum of LBP 40 billion to grieved farmers, only half (LBP 20 billion) of which has been disbursed,  Howayek told Al Mustaqbal newspaper. The farmers’ president pointed out that the crisis has become worrying, disclosing that agricultural associations have expediently accepted solutions that were short of their expectation only to lift the distress on farmers, and overlooked suspicious statistics and questionable method of payment that were kept from involved agricultural syndicates. Howayek presented some proposals to salvage the situation, chiefly: setting up agricultural chambers to assist farmers in the event of disasters; buy cold storage equipment for underprivileged farmers who cannot afford the cost of packing and warehousing. He also suggested that the government procure vessels at not more than USD 15 million to alleviate costs of export incurred on apple growers, pledging to raise voice of protests to achieve set solutions.(Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, An Nahar, July 25, 27, 2017)

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