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Tobacco growing in South Lebanon deteriorating after being the main livelihood for dozens of households
17-8-2017
In its issue of today, Al Hayat newspaper featured tobacco culture in South Lebanon pointing to a decline from the past three decades in the cultivation of the crop particularly in the towns and villages of Jabal Amel. This agriculture constituted the basic livelihood for thousands of households before the Israeli invasion of 1978 and the displacement of the area’s inhabitants. The period designated the start of a gradual decline in tobacco growing which culminated in recent years to reach nearly 50%, according to Regie sources. The latter outlined a number of factors for the waning crop cultivation, namely the increasing cost on the farmer who was left alone when his children and family gave up on him and he was forced to hire workers for the job. Also, the soaring prices of pesticides, changing climate conditions and water scarcity forced tobacco farmers to buy water for irrigation, in addition to the degeneration of field soil in the wake of the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon. The Regie sources said that the increase in the production cost was not paralleled by an increase in demand on the crop from farmers. One Kg of fine quality tobacco, for example, is sold at LBP 15 thousand, that is by only LBP 2 thousand increase from the past 10 years. But despite the relinquishing of the cultivation by many southern households, yet many others are still involved in this traditional agriculture for lack of alternative sources of livelihoods. (Al Hayat, August 17, 2017)
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- العربية
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