Two projects launched to promote livelihoods and create jobs

In the presence Agriculture Minister Ghazi Zuaiter, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched yesterday two projects to promote agricultural livelihoods and create jobs in this sector.  Implemented in collaboration with the Minister of Agriculture (MoA) and the Dutch Embassy to Lebanon, the projects are aimed at the ‘promotion of agricultural livelihoods and creation of rural jobs through investment in degraded lands and water reservoirs and development of the agriculture technical vocational education in Lebanon’. On the occasion, FAO representative in Lebanon, Maurice Saadeh, pointed out that the said initiatives shall help in the advancement of the sector and increase short-term, as well as, sustainable prospects of employment in the face of an intensive influx of refugees from neighboring Syria. Likewise, Minister Z3aiter disclosed an intention on part of his ministry to open new technical agriculture schools in the areas of Jeb Jnin, Rashayya and Zgharta in the framework of continuous support to agriculture extension which, he said, attracts farmers’ children and the poorer classes across Lebanon. To recall, 7 technical state agricultural schools were inaugurated in, Abdeh, Batroon, Fanar, Baaqline, Nabatiyeh, Khiyam and Nasiriyat Rizk. Z3aiter said the purpose of the first project is to enhance the quality of extension and help students acquire the necessary skills to access career opportunities. The project, he maintained will also enable young displaced Syrians to benefit from hands-on training programs and earn a technical baccalaureate in agriculture, which will facilitate their reintegration in the host communities or when they return to Syria. The second project, he added aims at supporting livelihoods through investing in land rehabilitation and irrigation. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, March 8, 2017)