The Ministry of Agriculture organises two extension seminars in Koura and Akkar on livestock and olives protection

The Ministry of Agriculture (MOSA) organised in collaboration with the livestock directorate in the North and the Amioun municipality and extension seminar on "artificial insemination and sexually transmitted diseases in cows".   The event was held at the CLAC Centre de lecture et d'activite culturel and was attended by the president of the agricultural centre in Koura, agronomist Marwa Hammoud, the responsible of CLAC, Joelle Hajj Obeid, agricultural technical expert, Pamela Morcos, and a number of men and women farmers from the area.
Livestock expert and veterinary assistant Francois Chidiac stressed during his intervention session the importance of proper management of artificial insemination and its impact on reproduction and annual profits.  He specified the steps to be followed to get good fertility results namely healthy nutrition, vaccination, healthy environment (aeration, lighting and proper temperature), regular veterinary check ups, proper familiarity with the insemination cycle, and maintaining updated livestock registries.  The session was followed by a discussion between the audience and Chidiac and the distribution of a guidebook offered by the project to rehabilitate the dairy sector in the Beqaa, Hermel and Akkar.
In Akkar, the agriculture centre in Hrar organised for its part an extension seminar on olive management and the importance of conservation agriculture.  The event was organised in collaboration with MOSA project aiming to support local development in North Lebanon and was attended by the president of the centre, Taha Moustapha, who spoke about developing olive farming and improving quality and production volume and the subsequent returns on farmers.  Expert Jean Stephan presented a detailed explanation of diseases and pests that attack olive trees, fruits and foliage and the importance of addressing these collectively to get proper results.  He added that the Ministry of Agriculture will follow up on this session with the distribution of special formic acid traps to combat olive pests.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 17 March 2014