Graduation olive growing trainees in Akkar and a marketing fair in Tripoli

In order to support its domestic marketing, in the face of fierce foreign competition, the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Tripoli organized last Friday an olive festival under the patronage of Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayeb. On the occasion, the head of the Agriculture Department in the North, Dr. Iqbal Ziadeh, indicated that the total area of olive cultivated land has reached 22 thousand hectares pointing that the lion’s share of this agriculture activity is located in Akkar, Kura, Zgharta, Batrun, Minyyeh & Dennyeh and as far as Tripoli. Ziadeh noted that nearly 41% of Lebanon’s olive trees are located in the North, where some 274 olive presses are operational. Similarly, Louis Lahhud, who represented Minister Shehayeb at the ceremony, said that both the public and private sectors have not given this agriculture the attention it deserves, while calling for a change in the conventional approach towards the olive industry.

Meanwhile, Al- Hadatha organization in the town of Birkail, held a graduation ceremony for a group of young men and women who completed a training workshop that focused on the cultivation of olives and the production of olive oil. The event which was funded by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) took place in the presence of Al-Hadatha president, Zaher Obeid and the IRC representative and trainer, Saad Khaled. (Al Diyar, January 30, 2016)