Milk for health and wealth - supporting small dairy producer communities in Lebanon
The introduction of modern equipment and cooling centres is benefiting over 3,000 farmers, especially women, and has increased their production capacity by some 50 percent.
FAO project brings significant improvements in the lives of small-scale Lebanese dairy farmers.
Georgette comes home and sets the table. She brings out a large variety of cheeses and cold drinks, all labelled with the name of the company she owns. Her husband, Pascal, has invited neighbours to join them at the dinner table and taste the foods from their own production.
However, this has not always been the case.
In the wake of the widespread devastation caused by the 2006 war, the Lebanese dairy industry was brought to its knees: a very high number of livestock perished during the conflict and many dairy farms were forced to shut down their activities. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in the Bekaa Valley only, the total number of dairy cows had dropped from 25,000 heads to about 18,000 heads after the war.
Lebanon received from the international community US$45 million for reconstruction.
The dairy sector, which is one of the main sources of income for rural families in Lebanon, was targeted by many interventions, particularly in the Northern region and in the Bekaa, where nearly 70 percent of the dairy cows are concentrated and a large number of the smallholders relying on livestock for their livelihoods are very vulnerable.
Through a multi-year program funded by the Lebanon Recovery Fund, FAO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture of Lebanon, ramped-up its support to the small-scale dairy sector across Lebanon.
Three hundred women-headed households and women cooperatives were supported with small and medium dairy processing units with accessories for home dairy processing. As a result, the quality of their products significantly improved generating an immediate increase in demand.