The people of Aqura celebrated last Saturday the first of its kind fun and recreational ‘apple festival’ aimed at encouraging farmers to keep up this traditional agriculture and promoting tourism in the area, according to festivity organizer, Alaa Hashem. Apple growing, Hashem lamented, has survived successive crises, namely in marketing due to the closure of borders with Syria and as a result of fierce foreign competition. On the occasion, agriculture engineer, Ghassan Feghali, pointed out that Lebanese apples are banned in some GCC states for failing to comply with standards set by these states, namely Dubai. Additionally, domestic apples in the local market face competition from imported produce, Feghali added.One of the main goals of the apple festival, he stressed, is inspiring Aqoura apple growers to cultivate enhanced varieties of the fruit. Similarly, the director of the festival, Nidal Hashem, said the event seeks to give hope to farmers especially that the price of one Kg of apples has dropped from LBP 1500 to LBP 300 in two years. (L’Orient Le Jour, August 1, 2017)