Telefood of 2012 – 2013 benefits 18 projects mainly of rural women cooperatives

The current Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Hussein Hajj Hassan, organised a press conference last Friday during which he presented the achievements of the Telefood programme in 2012-2013. The Minister also highlighted the project’s ways of working whilst noting the importance of facilitating interaction between organisations, cooperatives and beneficiaries of the programme in order to achieve better coordination and complementarity in the different types of assistance provided by his Ministry through its various departments and its cooperatives directorate.
Haj Hassan noted that the Telefood programme is one form of combating terrorism through resilience and through steadfastness and the will to survive and rebuild.  The Minister noted that 90% of the funded projects were meeting their set objectives.  He also added that 18 projects benefited from this initiative in 2013 and received the equivalent of USD 100,338.  The Minister clarified that the Telefood project targets rural women cooperatives and organisations that cater for the poor and for women through financing their small project.  The project is implemented by a joint committee including representatives of the FAO and of the Ministry of Agriculture and with funding from the FAO. Thus far the project has secured a total of USD 450,000, throughout its lifespan, that were used to finance 60 projects since 1997 with an average of USD 5,000 per project.
Finally, Haj Hassan listed the rural women cooperatives involved in food processing which benefited from this project namely Akkarouna Cooperative in Alburj- Akkar (20 women members), Chmestar Cooperative in Chmestar – Baalback, (15 women members), Zadet Al-Khayrat in Bednayel – Baalback, (20 women members), as well as Saint Joseph Monastery for nuns and elderly in Jrebta – Batroun that benefited form the beekeeping and honey making component and finally Sharq Cooperative in Ainata – Bint Jbeil (45 members of which 15 women) which benefited from the fruit, vegetable and irrigation component.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Safir, Al-Diyar 7 January 2014