The sustainable and inclusive transformation of Lebanon’s Agri-Food System
Lebanon’s food systems have long faced a myriad of challenges deriving from the country’s multi-faceted crisis that started in 2019. Such is the case that on the demand side the drastic decrease in consumer purchasing power has limited access to food (increased poverty due to currency devaluation and hyperinflation), while on the supply side, the rise in production costs and imported inputs has also limited production capacity.
The impact of this multifaceted crisis on Lebanon’s food systems is clear since the country relies heavily on imported inputs, seeds, materials and equipment. In Lebanon, cultivated lands cover less than 25 percent of the surface and land ownership is characterised by substantial inequality and fragmentation. Moreover, imports are dominated by an oligopolistic structure and local production is insufficient to satisfy the country’s food needs thus making the economy highly dependent on imports for consumption.
This situation has been exacerbated by the country’s current inadequate food safety regulations, high use of pesticides, absence of adequate testing laboratories or testing procedures and limited distribution channels, as well as the inadequacy, inefficiency and unsustainability of land use management practices and those of water resource management.
What are we going to do about these challenges?
The objective is to make Lebanon’s agri-food system the main contributor to achieving food security and a key driver towards a productive economy. To achieve this, regular monitoring, communication and dialogue among stakeholders are some key actions needed to define the achieved progress and start evidence-based dialogues to improve the strategic plan. Consequently, the Lebanese agri-food system will be transformed into a more resilient, inclusive, competitive, and sustainable agri-food system.
In this context, FAO, the European Union and CIRAD in cooperation with national food systems stakeholders jointly developed assessments in over 50 countries, including Lebanon, as a first step to transform agri-food systems. The exercise counted on the strong collaboration between various actors within the system.
The results derived from the assessment highlights a number of entry points for a transformative agri-food system in Lebanon that are in line with the National Agriculture Strategy 2020-2025 (NAS) and the National Nutrition Strategy (2021). These entry points can be achieved through better monitoring of food security and nutrition outcomes, improving smallholder farmers’ investment capacities, use of sustainable agriculture practices, and strengthening cooperatives and farmer collective action. Also, there is a need for a territorial development strategy and national action plan for environmental recovery to strengthen the resilience of the agri-food system.
The NAS, which was formulated with technical support from FAO to reflect both the immediate and long-term priorities of the agri-food sector in Lebanon, represents the operational instrument through which the agri-food sector can contribute to absorbing the crises-induced economic shocks as well as to recover the Lebanese economy. It is a tool to facilitate evidence-based decision-making for all stakeholders involved in the agri-food sector, such as agriculture, water and natural resources, food and nutrition security sector – within the public institutions as well as among external actors, development partners and private entrepreneurs and their organisations.
Success stories
Some steps have been taken already in Lebanon to improve its food system. Such is the case of Ms Afaf Qaddouh from the town of Zawtar El Sharkiyeh, in South Lebanon, who benefited from the FAO-led project “Promotion of Agricultural Livelihoods and Employment through Investment in Land Reclamation and Water Reservoirs,” that allowed her to invest in land reclamation, water reservoir and retaining walls. Afaf believes that sustaining women producers is crucial to the survival of agriculture in Lebanon. “I love my land and I can never sell it. My land is my life.”
Almost 60 percent of livestock farmers in Lebanon depend on dairy as their main source of living and 3 500 vulnerable dairy farmers received technical and institutional support to produce more and better-quality dairy products as well as to be part of sustainable dairy cooperatives through FAO, in collaboration with the Government of Lebanon and its Ministry of Agriculture.
Another example is the European Union-funded project “Scientific and Institutional Cooperation to Support responsible fisheries” implemented by FAO in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture which focuses on enhancing national capacities for fisheries management by promoting technical and institutional capacity development.
All these ongoing efforts contribute to improving Lebanon’s food system towards sutainability. However, the future proves to be looking brighter with a clear plan and evidence-based information developed by a holistic approach – since collaborative steps including all parts of the food system can be considered to improve it.