The President of the farmers’ association reminds the Phalanges and Progressive Socialist Parties of the demands of the agricultural sector

The President of the Farmers’ Association, Antoine Hoayek, addressed the presidents of the Phalanges and PSP parties and demanded that they state their position regarding the commitments they have signed at the Lebanese Forum on Social and Economic Development and which organized in Beirut in 2008 and 2009.  He called on the two parties to convene a meeting with his association in order to identify the best ways implementing the recommendations that were endorsed politically.
Howayek noted that the Ministers of Health and Agriculture are members of the PSP party whilst the Ministers of Economy and Labor are members of the Phalanges Party. All these ministries have the remit to oversee the implementation of the Forum’s recommendations and which include the creation of a unified and comprehensive health coverage system for all the Lebanese and which is managed by the NSSF and for which financing is allocated in the national Budget.  Other recommendations include: the creation of a unified pension plan, the modernization and application of protection mechanisms for agricultural products, creating an insurance fund for natural disasters and climate change, reinstating the law to create a national bank to support agricultural development and separating the Chamber of Agriculture from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and setting up a mechanism for registering agricultural land parcels.
Source: Al-Diyar, Al-Safir 7 March 2014

For more information about the recommendations of the Lebanese Forum on Social and Economic Development, please review the following news:
The Association of Farmers: The problems of the agricultural sector persist and the Ministry of Agriculture has failed to play its role, on 3/1/2014
Big challenges to agricultural sector and food security in Lebanon because of government neglect, on 21/2/2014
A proposal to set up an autonomous Chamber for Agriculture frozen since 2003, on 5/3/2014