Little information on the mechanism for subsidizing agricultural sea exports

Following the latest decision by the Council of Ministers to support sea exports, ‎Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayeb chaired a large meeting to discuss the mechanism ‎to implement the Cabinet decision. The meeting included representatives of agricultural ‎cooperatives and associations, exporters and farmers, the Investment Development ‎Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) as well as representatives of the sea and land transport ‎sector. Shehayeb clarified that the decision to subsidize sea exports was actually taken ‎on 8/4/2015 when the Cabinet assigned the minister of agriculture to follow up the ‎case of stranded truckers on land borders. This was followed by another decision ‎taken on 2/7/2015 which earmarked LBP 21 billion to cover the additional cost of ‎maritime shipping of agricultural and industrial products to Arab countries and that ‎is over a period of 7 months. Accordingly, a monthly payment will be effected as set ‎by the mechanisms which IDAL developed in collaboration with the Minister ‎of Agriculture. No further explanation regarding this proposed mechanism was made ‎available. Within the same vein, the head of the maritime shipping agencies in ‎Lebanon, Hassan Jarudi, and in answer to a question on the capacity of the Port of ‎Beirut to accommodate the expected extra volume of shipment, said that Beirut Port is ‎already congested and therefore cannot withstand the additional workload of 70 trucks ‎loaded on Ro-Ro vessels, hence he recommended the use of the Port of Tripoli instead. ‎For its part, Al Akhbar daily newspaper published yesterday an article in which it raised ‎questions on who will ultimately benefit most from the export subsidies. For that ‎purpose the daily interviewed the head of the economics department at AUST Bassam ‎Hamdar who elaborated on the present structure of the agricultural sector in Lebanon. ‎Hamdar said that large farmers, who at the same time are exporters,‎‏ ‏effectively control ‎the market, and hence are bound to become the biggest beneficiaries of government ‎decision. He pointed out that exporting is government by strict requirements, ‎pertaining to quality and‏ ‏competitiveness. He went on to say that these ‎conditions most of the time cannot be met by small farmers‏ ‏who lack access to ‎information and agriculture extension services. Furthermore, he added that promoting ‎exports to GCC states is a very good objective under normal circumstances. However,‎‏ ‏Hamdar concluded,‎‏ ‏that presently, there is a growing domestic demand for food ‎products that should be given precedence over exporting, particularly so with the ‎presence of over one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. (Al Akhbar, An Nahar, Al ‎Diyar, July 7, 2015)‎