Shock and awe

"And how is the U.S. planning to invade and conquer additional agricultural markets?"

Read in full this very well researched article by my friend Rania Masri.

Coops in trouble

I'm blogging in full this article from the Daily Star on the difficulties facing cooperatives in Lebanon. these coops were started by development projects, then abandonned as the project ended (project lifetime...the usual initiative killer). So the best thing is to create...a new development project to deal with the marketing. I dont exactly see how they intend to market, but I can give them a few pointers:

1. Dont go to supermarkets, establish your alternative system. Go to souk el Tayyeb, it is a great venue to kickstart the chain.
2. Get yourself a quality label: ISO, HACCP, Organic, anthing that can give confidence to the customer.
3. sometimes you just have the wrong product, even if it sounds romantic and exotic, it is not consumed by the customers you are trying to address, and it is available to those who want it. Example: kishk, there is plenty of it accessible to the people who eat kishk, but there is none available to those who dont want it, so dont try filling that gap. There are tons of cheaper jams on the markets, locall or imported, and with a brand confidence level that is much higher.
4. seek to understand ALL the components of the economic supply chain (filiere) and indentify the most limiting factor, and work on it. it may not be marketing, although marketing may be A limiting factor. Sometimes it is the relationship between the people, sometimes the availability of raw materials, sometimes the access to resources.



"With imported food stuffs crowding the shelves of Lebanon's large supermarket chains, and Western fast-food franchises proliferating in the capital, it has become increasingly difficult for local agricultural cooperatives to access more lucrative city markets.

Market access has been even more difficult for the dozens of female-led rural cooperatives set up under the Agriculture Ministry's 1999 initiative. The collective farming units producing traditional staples ranging from kishik to pumpkin preserves got off to a running start initially, but few have managed to become self-sustaining, let alone profitable, since the sellers remain isolated from potential buyers.

The Women Economic Empowerment Project (WEEP) partnered with the Canadian International Development Agency and Oxfam Quebec in 2006 to launch a marketing branch in Beirut to sell the cooperative's products to consumers and supermarket buyers in the capital.
The WEEP's Marketing Unit identified rural women's cooperatives in 14 different villages in the Bekaa region for the first phase of its project, helping them find sustainable markets for their products and transport goods to Beirut to develop a viable customer base. The goal is for the businesses and the villages to prosper, explained WEEP projects coordinator, Natalie Chemally.
"They say they don't have contact points to sell products in Beirut and that if they do have a contact point, how can they reach it?" Chemally said last week at the opening of the Marketing Unit's headquarters on the first floor of the Mansourati building in Mathaf.

The WEEP exhibited products from rural women's cooperatives at local and regional trade shows in 2006, and moved on to the second phase of the marketing strategy with the opening of a permanent distribution point in the capital.

Retailers and consumers alike will now be able to purchase kishik balls stuffed with red peppers, organic fruit jam, pastries filled with yogurt and herbs, and a host of other traditional food stuffs whose recipes have been passed down through generations in rural Lebanon.
If the Marketing Unit succeeds in selling Bekaa products to an increasingly discerning urban customer-base, the WEEP will take on 22 new cooperatives from North and South Lebanon.

Unlike other agri-food ventures financed by international donors, the WEEP marketing unit is geared towards the local market first and foremost, with exports a distant possibility.
Chemally acknowledged that co-op goods have a long way to go before they can compete with established organic, local brands like Green Valley that dominate the shelves of Lebanese supermarkets. But they are not looking to capture a huge share of the local market just yet, she said.

"We know we are not going to be a Wadih-Al-Khader [Green Valley]" Chemally admitted. "We are just trying to mobilize the co-ops to compete in a decent fair-trade market."
Meanwhile WEEP will continue offering technical assistance to women in rural Lebanon so they can participate in the labor force.

"Individual women or local women's associations decide they want to do something on their own, so WEEP helps them define and structure their own goals," Chemally said.
The organization provides start-up capital to women with viable business plans, and then gradually teaches them the skills to become independent, assisting with funding proposals for potential donors.

Recently WEEP organized a hairdressing-training session for 16 girls in Mashat Hammoud, a village in the Akkar region. Half of the participants are now operating their own hair salons now, Chemally offered of a typical WEEP project.

The goal is always to "build their capacities to become more economically autonomous and form and maintain their own grassroots organizations."

The Marketing Unit headquarters are located on the first floor of the Masourati Building, above the Misubishi/Kassab Auto Shop in the Mathaf area of Beirut. More information on WEEP, CRTDA and the Marketing Unit can be obtained via email at elawen@crtda.org or by phone at 01-391196."

Now milk- and other stuff

The proof of globalization? easy: prices of milk and dairy products have increased by 20% since the beginning of 2007, and it is set to increase a further 20% according to the head of the milk and dairy products importer in Lebanon. This is in great part due to the lifting of subsidies on dairy products in the EU as well as the increase in the Euro. But the replacement of forages with biofuel crops and the droughts also have their little role to play. I have blogged earlier about this worlwide increase in price, and you can put the pieces together if you search the blog under "milk". Now price increases may be a tad over exagerated (cartels have to make a living too you know) because the EU subsidies were at 27% and they have not yet been completely lifted, but there has been panic buying of milk world wide, and we are feeling it in Lebanon. This good report by Sahar Nasser in the excellent economic page of al-akhbar tells us that the price of one ton of milk rose from $2200 to $5500 and that of butter from $1800 to $5000. These increases are over 120%. The local retail prices have not completely caught up yet because of the stocks available in storage.

At the same time, the wheat mills owners cartel are refusing the government subsidy of $50 per ton and are threatening to dramatically raise the price of flour they sell to the breadmaking industry if the government does not provide them with a subsidy of at least $100 per ton. Labour union leaders are calling this "a blackmail by the mills cartel" (made of just 10 people). The government allows this monopoly to exist, as I've said earlier.

But now where does this leave us? in looming crisis. Hear me out:

Successive Lebanese government have acted knowingly and cold bloodedly to destroy the farming sector in Lebanon (see The roots of inequality and other feature articles). They still do that by signing skewed bilateral free trade agreements. This government in particular has been very, very active at that, and there are many posts below to show it.

There was a point to the super opening of markets: locally, it facilitated trade so that merchants could make money. But aspects of it are more sinister. Food import created dependency, which was very welcome by the US and the EU, as it facilitated control over governments. The same tactic was used in other Arab countries, like Tunisia or egypt: if they do not abide by the day's orders, trading is rendered more difficult, prices increase, bread or food riots ensue, and government become shaky until the donors send in food aid, or governments are allowed to pay subsidies. Subsidies are by the way only allowed to be given to the rich, and only on imported products. Monopolistic import cartels are the ones that benefit from them, as they are the trojan horses of the global economic order in the country. In Lebanon, the head of the grain mills union (cartel) also doubles up as the vice president of the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce. For more details about this, see Rania Masri's excellent article in Al-Adab (if you can read Arabic-Rania, could you please blog the english version?).

So we now have a country's whose food sovereignty has been destroyed (note well, not food security, but food sovereignty, which is the right to decide what a nation grows and what it eats), and suddenly world food prices begin to climb.

The good news is that there is a lot that can still be done. Yes, as we are starting to hear, this will help create a revival in agriculture. Already, the increase in local food prices is making more people move back into agriculture (i myself am buying 20 bee colonies and 4 cows, but that's a diffferent issue). However, there are 2 excessively important issues here:

1. The adjustment period is going to be difficult. i would love to be able to say "the government should brace itself and prepare safety nets" and believe what I say, but this government and the dynasty it originates from has not shown any ability and willingness to do that. It has imposed one of the most unjust and primitive form of taxations, and its idea for collecting money is to create taxes that affect mostly the poor, like raising fuel prices. But someone must step in and take action. I hate the idea, but I can see here a great opportunity for sectarian-political leadership to enhance the already near total surogacy of their constituency by creating sectarian-based support systems (Hizbullah's Jihad al Binaa is one of them, and USAID supported NGOs are another- you didn't know that the US is now a Lebanese sect, and ambassador Feltman is its patriarch?).

2. The revival of farming isn't going to happen just like that. It must be promoted and prepared, and must benefit the poor and the small as well as the rich and the big. Sustainable practices must be adopted in order to mitigate the negative impacts of farming. Clear policies for regaining food sovereignty -making resourecs available to all is one of them- must be adopted. Otherwise, this opportunity will turn into another painful debacle.

Of course, a favorable government is absolutely essential for that. One that protects farmers and citizens, and not just the arms of the resistance and its leadership.

Do you think they'll talk about this in the next round of dialogue? if it happens?

Yes master

I'm blogging in full this excellent article by Lysandra Ohrstrom from the Daily Star (one wonders why she is still there.) Lysandra (whom I do not know) often addresses issues of relevance to trade and small industries and has excellent insights. Read how the current government policies (and previous ones) reject the idea of any intervention in the sectors in order to favor import and trade. Read how their vision for Lebanon is one of services with no production. Read how they blame family agribusinesses rather than addressing (US and EU) market distorting subsidies. Read how the US, directly and through its subservient cronies has decided how the economy of Lebanon will be: services and laissez faire. Read how the capitalists and businessmen of Lebanon are begging the state for some intervention but how the state will not intervene because the US Department of Commerce thinks it should not. This government defers to the US in all matters: local politics, economy and timing of the toilet breaks. You should have heard US ambassador Feltman give the Lebanese people yesterday his views on the Lebanese constitution and on the timing of the presidential elections. One word can describe him: High Commissionner.

Global market changes face of Lebanese economyInvestors focus attention on value-added sectorBy Lysandra Ohrstrom Daily Star staffThursday, July 19, 2007

BEIRUT: As Lebanon's drive toward integration in the global market intensifies, foreign investors are shifting their attention to value-added sectors of the local economy, leaving industry and agriculture to struggle against high production costs and competitively priced imports. Pharmaceuticals, Internet communication technology (ICT), and insurance were identified as Lebanon's "best prospect sectors" in the 2007 annual Country Commercial Guide report released by the US Department of Commerce last week.

The vice president of the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce, Arslan Sinno, said the World Trade Organization (WTO) accession process and multi-lateral free trade agreements with European and Arab countries have promoted the liberalization of the economy, forcing business leaders to take stock of promising sectors for development that may be able to compete at the global level.

"In view of the European neighborhood policy, the GAFTA (Greater Arab Free Trade Agreement), and TIFA (Trade and Investment Framework Agreement) with America, it will be more difficult for smaller businesses to compete with industrial giants in Western countries so they are focusing on value-added products that rely on human resources," Sinno told The Daily Star in a phone interview Wednesday.

Multinational corporations are increasingly subcontracting local software firms for their computer programming needs, he said, leading to some early "success stories" in the nascent ICT industry. Meanwhile, international film distributors are commissioning tri-lingual Lebanese for film translation and subtitles.

But other productive sectors have not fared as well in their effort to gain a larger share of Western markets. Agri-food exporters, for instance, have attempted to appeal to the growing appetite for ethnic and Mediterranean foods in Europe and America - which has expanded beyond the Middle Eastern diaspora - said Sinno, but the absence of legislation promoting mergers between family-owned SME's has discouraged the consolidation that is necessary to reduce prices in foreign markets.

"We can't have 12 separate canning companies competing for a share in the same market, they need to merge and find financing so they can rival products from other countries like Cyprus who produce the same goods," Sinno explained.

Though multi-national labels like Nestle have shown minor interest in acquiring local food manufacturing labels, very few energy-intensive industries have managed to attract foreign capital or retain qualified personnel - especially for specialized products.

Industrialists are not averse to the further opening of the Lebanese market to international products, insisted Wajih al-Bizri, the vice president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, but they need the government to mimic neighboring countries by creating industrial cities equipped with sewage systems, electricity and irrigation networks, and roads in less expensive, under-developed rural areas of the country.

"Lebanon never had any barriers to trade to begin with so industrialists are not afraid of [an open market]," he explained.

"What worries us is unfair competition from countries with low cost of energy.

"The [government] leased land to the private sector in Choueifat and Akkar and called them industrial zones, but they did not provide any infrastructure," Bizri said.I

ncreased openness has also contributed to the accelerating brain drain from Lebanon to Gulf countries, forcing industrialists to contend with an absence of qualified personnel with knowledge of international markets. Since the domestic market cannot meet the salary requirements commanded by middle and upper management in the Gulf, the quality of local products has suffered.

Though the Lebanese business community is calling for increased government intervention in the economy - however minor - the US Department of Commerce the views the state's laissez-faire investment policy as one of the country's biggest draws.

A multi-lingual workforce and media content providers in the country and the government's plans to upgrade the ICT infrastructure will offer significant opportunities to foreign investors, the department of commerce report said.

Meanwhile the pharmaceutical market generates $400 million a year in retail sales but products manufactured here account for less than five percent of total annual consumption, making Lebanon the biggest importer of prescription drugs in the Levant.

Insurance was also cited as an attractive sector for development since the demand for personal insurance policies and coverage for reconstruction work is projected to rise steadily.
The Lebanese service sector has shifted its gaze to global brands, with local branches of US franchises on the rise, despite declining purchasing power.

The report calls franchising "one of the fastest growing business sectors in Lebanon". Though domestic branches of global fast-food chains have proliferated most rapidly, the volume of clothing, retail, and car rental franchises has also risen, leading to the proposed creation of a union of Lebanese Franchisers this year.

Paul Ariss, head of the Restaurant, CafŽ, and Hotel Syndicate, expects the number of US food and restaurant franchises - there are currently at least a dozen different brands - to continue growing the future.

"Because the market is open, and people are aware of international brands there will always be a market for brands like Burger King, McDonald's, and KFC," he said.
"If they are still all doing well in Lebanon at a time like this other franchises will be encouraged to follow their example," Ariss said.

Kenya maken

"The New Kenya Co-operative Creameries (KCC) have secured a market for milk products in Middle East worth Sh350 million ($5 million). New KCC chairman, Mr. Matu Wamae, said the creamery had received another order to supply 216 tonnes of powdered milk to Yemen.

"We are earning Sh50 million ($750,000) from powdered milk exported to Yemen every month and we hope the earnings will go up by January," said Wamae. He said the creamery had received another order for 100 million litres of milk from the Middle East and Asia.

Farmers currently produce about 350,000 litres of milk daily, which Wamae said was inadequate to satisfy the demand. "There is a huge demand for milk from the Middle East market and we are urging farmers to increase their output," he said."

Last round

"MEDIATORS at the World Trade Organisation made a bid to salvage a global free trade deal today by proposing compromises to overcome impasses in the key areas of agriculture and industrial goods.

The proposals are seen as possibly the last chance to save the so-called Doha round, which has lurched from crisis to crisis since it was launched in Qatar in 2001 to help lift millions of people out of poverty.

In an attempt to break the deadlock, diplomats chairing the WTO negotiations floated detailed texts spelling out ranges of cuts for farm subsidies and a formula for import tariff cuts for agricultural and industrial goods.

"Some of those narrow ranges or target numbers or technical draft text will be very painful, for sure. But that pain will be required to get agreement," said New Zealand's ambassador to the WTO, Crawford Falconer, who chairs the agriculture negotiations.

Under his plan, the United States would have to cut a ceiling for farm subsidies to between $US13 billion ($14.96 billion) and $US16.4 billion ($18.87 billion) a year, lower than its offer so far of $US17 billion ($19.56 billion).
The European Union would have to cut its highest tariffs on farm imports by 73 per cent, more than its offer of 60 per cent."

Kofi to save Africa

“The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) on Monday pledged to increase agricultural productivity of the continent's small farmers and lift tens of millions of people out of extreme poverty in the near future.

Addressing a press conference in Nairobi, AGRA chairman Kofi Annan said the organization has invested $150 million to support the development of new seed systems better equipped to cope with the harsh African climate. ‘Africa is the only region where overall food security and livelihoods are deteriorating. We will reverse this trend by working to create an environmentally sustainable, uniquely African Green Revolution. When our poorest farmers finally prosper, all of Africa will benefit,’ Annan told journalists in Nairobi.

Reuters reports that “… Annan said the Nairobi-based group hoped to replicate farm changes that boosted agricultural productivity in countries like India in the 1970s. … He said the group would focus on helping Africa's millions of small-scale farmers fight poverty and boost productivity by providing stronger and more resistant seed varieties, and improving access to farm inputs and markets. …” [Reuters/Factiva]

Where it will get really funny is when he will start asking for an end to market distorting Western agricultural subsidies. The Green revolution in India was highly controversial Mr. Annan. Small farmers have been made poorer, seeds have been stolen and patented by corporations, people have become slave labourers on their own lands, water resources have been exhausted and fertilizers and pesticides have polluted soil and water. The list is endless, all in the name of productivity while in reality it is in the name of cheaper food to compete with subsidized Western foods on the global market.

Just when we thought the world had become safe from this corrupt politician, he emerges to destroy what is left of Africa. Why didn't he get so excited about african agriculture when he was UN secretary general and had all of the FAO and UNDP under his command? Could it be because it was not on his US-compiled to-do list?

Arabic halloum

Zeinab Ghosn from Al Safir picked the Halloum post and wrote a very good article on Geographic Indicators in today's Al Safir. (in Arabic)

Cutting their nose to spite their face

Further to my Aytaroun post, I thought it would be interesting to try to learn more about tobacco subsidies in Lebanon. I interviewed Asma Bazzi a graduate student in Environmental Policy, working under the guidance of Dr. Nader Kabbani from the Department of Economics at The American University of Beirut. Asma is writing a thesis on tobacco in South Lebanon. She told me the tobacco story.

Tobacco cultivation became a state monopoly started under the Ottoman Empire in 1884. The “Societe Anonyme de Régie Co-interessee Libano-Syrienne de Tabacs et des Tombacs” was created in 1935 and given effective legal monopoly of the tobacco trade in both countries. After independence, it became known as the Régie Libanaise des Tabacs et des Tombacs and retained the exclusive trading rights for tobacco imports and exports and local trade. The Régie has been under governmental control since 1991.

Tobacco subsidies were initiated by the French Mandatory Government in 1936 primarily for rural development purposes, especially to reduce rural-urban migration. Tobacco gained importance in the 60s and 70s, declined during the war and picked up again in 96-97, especially in the Southern qadas of Marjeyoun, Bint Jbeil and Sour.

Tobacco cultivation contributes to the livelihoods of 24,000 farmers, in addition to more than 1000 seasonal laborers. Moreover, the Régie counts 1,500 employees. In the year 2001, nearly 92,000 dunums (9,200 ha) were planted in the whole of Lebanon. 64% were in the South, 20% in the Bekaa and 16% in the North. During the same year, the South produced 5,800 tons of tobacco (62%), the Bekaa 1,870 tons (20%) and the North 1,740 tons (18%), for a total Lebanese production in 2001 of 9,410 tons. The best tobacco (Saada 6 variety) is grown in the South. The Bekaa grows Burley and Saada-6, and the North the low value Saada-33 also known as tombac (Régie data).

Most tobacco farmers are small and poor. Half of them plant less than 4 dunums (0.4 ha, just under 1 acre). The Régie only purchases tobacco planted by farmers having permits, and only one permit is allowed per family. A farmer cannot plant or sell tobacco without a permit from the Régie which specifies the area to be planted and the crop volume expected.

Tobacco is a very labor intensive crop, requiring 610 workdays per hectare per year. For comparison, cereals require 25 days per hectare per year, and irrigated vegetables cultivation 242 days per hectare per year. The gross income of the average 4 dunums plantation in the South was $3,210 per year in 1999, five times greater than that for wheat (another dryland crop) (Association pour le Developpement Rural). Values for 2006 fell in the same range.

While tobacco is important for the livelihoods of farmers from all over Lebanon, it is especially crucial for the Southerners. A survey dating from 1999 indicated that tobacco provides 25% to 85% and sometimes 100% of the total income of farmers (ADR).

Tobacco farming increased by 24% after the liberation of the South in 2000, especially in the cazas of Bint Jbeil, Marjeyoun and Sour. Tobacco cultivation has been vital in the livelihood rebuilding process that followed liberation, both for those who were in the resistance and for those who were in the pro-Israeli South Lebanon army. Moreover, a number of farmers from villages on the border used to work in the Israeli settlements and had to stop their activities after the liberation. Tobacco offered a post-war alternative and an opportunity to re-adapt to working in Lebanon.

In the South, tobacco is called “the crop of steadfastness”. Had it not been for tobacco and its subsidies, the South would have witnessed more intensive migration and emigration, and Israel would have easily reinvaded Lebanon in July 2006. Tobacco subsidy may have been a central factor in determining the outcome of the war.

For many years, a string of Hariri governments, and now the Sanioura government, have been threatening to remove the subsidies. They have accused the tobacco subsidies of draining the national economy.

What is the value of the tobacco subsidy? In 2005, there were 13,738 tobacco farmers in the South. The value of the subsidy paid by the Régie to Southern farmers was $15.5 million, equivalent to 40% of the value of the crop. This is nearly $1,000 per farmer family. Another $15 millions was spent on the 10,000 farmers of the North and the Bekaa. They are subsidized at 75%. The total value of the subsidy (price paid above market price) is close to $30 millions per year. This much is known to most people.

What is less known is that most of the Lebanese tobacco is exchanged for foreign cigarettes from international tobacco corporations. These cigarettes are then resold on the local market for a handsome profit (close to $5 millions in 2005). The main bartering partners are Philip Morris (43%) and British American Tobacco (23%).

So the tobacco subsidy help people from the poorest areas of Lebanon construct a livelihood and remain attached to the land, while providing the government and the Régie with a handsome profit. Why should they want to stop it?

Could it be because it is called the crop of steadfastness?

Growing occupation

"Yuval Katzir, 26 years old, a guide at the Ayalon Institute Bullet Factory in Rehovot, Israel, is one of 23 members of the new kibbutz located at the site and also a reserve paratrooper in the Israeli army. He spoke with Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Waldman about the kibbutz movement. Below, an edited transcript. (See related article.)
WSJ: Why are you trying to create a new kibbutz movement, after so many kibbutzim have failed in recent years?
Mr. Katzir: A kibbutz is not a place; it's an idea. We're not focusing on agriculture but education."

For those who read and liked the post on Aytaroun, here's more about kibbutz from the wall street journal. See also this link for a post on changes in the moshav and kibbutz culture in Israel. Extremely interesting.

Isolate Syria-but after the potato harvest please

"Industrialists, farmers and economists on Thursday warned that Lebanon will suffer grave economic consequences if Syria shuts down the border crossings. "Most of Lebanon's agricultural exports go through Syria and if Damascus decided to close all crossing points than we will be deprived of more than $1 billion in export revenues a year."

Similar article in arabic in today's As Safir: Farmers are hurrying to pick the potatoes before Syria closes its last border still open in Masnaa. Farmers and farmer's unions foresee a disaster if this happens before the season is exported.

1. Please let those who keep complaining about agriculture being a useless sector that Lebanon exports $ 1 billion per year JUST THROUGH SYRIA.
2. Please let those who keep complaining about Syrian produce entering Lebanon remember that Syria imports more from Lebanon than vice-versa.
3. Please lets remember that we cannot want to wage a war against a state AND ask it to keep its orders open for our produce to keep flowing through it. I mean, we can, but it doesn't sound very serious.

The cherry on the Chebaa cake

Not only are the Chebaa farms still under Israeli occuppation, but its agricultural output has fallen by 60% according to this article in al Akhbar, due to total neglact by the government (so what else is new?) and to internal problems between the Hariri supporters and the Hizbullah supporters. By the way, Chebaa produces great cherries, and cherrie are the number one fruit in the world, and the international demand largely exceeds supply! (in Arabic)

No milk? we'll have yogurt instead

""Panic buying" appears to have broken out in the global dairy trade as supply constraints ratchet prices up into uncharted territory, according to agricultural forecaster Agrifax.

News of the surge follows the European Union's decision last week to scrap its dairy export subsidies in a move expected to cut dwindling European dairy production further.

The drought in Australia, increasing use of land to grow corn for biofuels in the US, and Westernised diets in rapidly developing regions such as Asia and the Middle East are driving a surge in dairy prices, and supply can't keep up with demand."

The children of Aytaroun

I went to Aytaroun a few days ago to check the possibility of expanding the work of Land and People there. Aytaroun is a small village right by the border, near Maroun el Ras and Bint Jbeil. Since the early 70’s, Aytaroun has been an active war zone. While the rest of Lebanon was still enjoying the oil boom of the 60’s, it was regularly bombed by the Israeli army which made frequent incursions in the region. Aytaroun was immortalized in 1975 through a song by communist singer Khaled el Haber that went:

“Your children Aytaroun dance in the trenches
Their toys are guns
Your children Aytaroun chant in jubilation
They sing an ancient melody:
lets resist! lets resist!”

The song was written as a eulogy for of a group of school children who had died as a result of an Israeli bombing episode.

Aytaroun went from war to war and through various periods of occupation until the liberation of the South in 2000. The Israeli war on Lebanon of July-August 2006 resulted in the near total razing of the village, although the Israelis were unable to occupy it.

As elsewhere in the South, especially in the area south of the Litani, farming is a major source of income in Aytaroun. Tobacco forms the bulk of the local produce: 80% of the farmers rely on it as a main source of income. Tobacco is important for 2 reasons:

1. It is a dryland crop. There is no irrigation water available in Aytaroun. The land is very fertile, but groundwater is at 600m depth, and irrigation would be uneconomical considering the price of fuel needed to pump water from this depth.

2. It is “subsidized”: the Lebanese government subsidizes the Regie Libanaise des Tabacs et des Tombacs, a semi-autonomous body largely under government control, which in turn purchases the tobacco from farmers at prices higher than international market price. The amount a farmer can sell is fixed, and depends on a special permit delivered by the Regie. The average annual gross income for a tobacco farmer is LBP 4.5 million or $3,000. Nearly half of the tobacco farmers of Lebanon are in the South. This is why tobacco has been called “the crop of steadfastness” (mahsoul al soumoud). Without tobacco farming, migration from the south would have intensified, and its villages would have become depopulated.

My visit to Aytaroun came in response to a local request for help in finding alternative crops to tobacco. I have been receiving similar requests since the end of the 2006 war, from villages in the Deep South. The southern farmers are worried that the Sanioura government might stop the tobacco subsidies, and not replace them with other subsidies. Since the Hariri times, Sanioura and his ultra-neo-liberal team has been pushing for the lifting of the tobacco subsidies, calling it a drain on the national economy. These are surprising requests at a time when one would assume that the government has other cats to flog. Still, there is genuine concern in the South that the tobacco subsidies may be lifted, and that the livelihoods of the local people would suddenly take a dip.

I went around the place and visited the main farming areas of the village. Right by the border with occupied Palestine, there is a large plain of several thousand hectares nearly all planted with tobacco or wheat in rotation. Its altitude (700 meters) makes perfect for many fruit trees. The barbed fence passes right through the plain, and about one third of it is under Israeli occupation.

To say that the Israeli occupied part looks like it could be in another country is an overused cliché. The hilly parts are forested, and there are vast fruit tree orchards. There is a large packing plant, belonging, I guess, to moshav Avivim which is right across the border and is home to a couple of hundred settlers. The roads are asphalted and the fields drawn with a ruler. Clearly, some serious farming is taking place there.

Since the creation of the first settlements in Palestine, farming has been a major angle of attack of the Zionists. They thought that working the land, vivifying it, investing in it and fostering attachment to it will create a “de facto” situation which will make the Zionist state come true. Over the years, they invested tremendous sums in the various kibbutz and moshav making Israeli agriculture one of the least economically efficient in the world today. It swallows large amounts of money from the state’s coffers to the dismay of many Israeli economists. But it has been, and remains, a political success. The kibbutz and the moshav produce the bulk of the radical forces in Israel. They have been used extensively to attract western youth and create sympathy towards Israel. The technology used in the settlements (regardless of the financial bill) has helped the Zionist state carve a niche in the field of agricultural development. Special trade agreements granted by most nations of the world to the State of Israel facilitate the export of (subsidized) Israeli goods. They provide an opportunity for advertisement deep into families and households. Israeli produce is a tremendous propaganda tool, and a very successful one.

In spite of frequent calls to end the subsidies by some economists, Israeli politicians continue unabatedly to support the agricultural settlements. Moshav Avivim, located a few kilometers away from the destroyed Aytaroun village and from its poor tobacco fields, stands witness to that.

In Aytaroun, there are stones and dry soil. In Avivim, Israel has invested in deep wells and in irrigation systems. In Aytaroun, the price of fuel is prohibitive and electricity strictly rationed. In Avivim special rates are offered to the settlers, making irrigation a low-cost operation. In Aytaroun, the lack of storage facilities limits investment in farming. In Avivim, Israel has built packing plants of international standards. In Aytaroun, the absence of decent roads means the produce will be pulped before it gets to the market. In Avivim, the roads are of smooth asphalt, and airplanes carry produce directly to international markets.

In spite of all that, the moshavim were quick to desert their lands when Israel attacked Lebanon in July 2006. Many of the inhabitants of Aytaroun remained steadfast, fought the Israeli army, and defended their land till the last minute. Could this be why thy are facing the threat of losing their pitiful tobacco subsidy?

O Lebanese, if only you knew what you eat

An open letter from Antoine Howayyek, head of the Organization of Lebanese Farmers to the (resigned) Minister of Agriculture Talal Sahili (Amal Movement, Opposition, Shi’a), or to acting Minister Joe Sarkis (Lebanese Forces, pro-government, Maronite), or to whoever may be in charge of the country.

Howayyek is asking: why are there no standards and no controls over the quality of the imported food products: fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products? Why does the ministry not do its job and operate or outsource the quality control at the borders? A letter was sent to the minister over a year ago, but no reply was received.

Howayyek makes the following points:

• The Arab Free Trade agreement was implemented on 1/1/05. The agricultural calendar was almost eliminated, and subsidized food imports from Arab countries flowed freely in Lebanon. Fuel oil in Syria costs 12.5 cents per gallon and in Lebanon it costs 65 cents per gallon. This and other subsidies result in a cost of production in Lebanon that is often 50% higher than elsewhere.
• The anti-dumping laws, although allowed by WTO, are not implemented in Lebanon.
• The Ministry of Agriculture does not operate any inspection or control on quality of food imports at the borders.
• The consumer’s office in the Ministry of Economy and Trade is inexistent.
• There is no way to know the origin of products sold in the Lebanese market. Most products are imported and yet sold as originating form Lebanon. Each year, 5000 tons of white cheese is imported and sold as Lebanese cheese. Lebanese law states that products have to be sold in their original packaging.
• The borders do not have adequate locations for inspections nor do they have sufficient number of trained inspectors.
• A meeting was held in February 2006 in the ministry of agriculture, and it was agreed to enforce existing regulations.
• Since then nothing materialized. Produce still enters Lebanon freely, whatever its quality. We have become a good market for bad quality produce that cannot be exported other than to Lebanon, because we enforce no standards and no controls.
• The questions Howayyek asks: Why does the government not take the necessary measures to protect the Lebanese citizen and to protect farming, and give it a chance to grow and develop? Who benefits from this intentional negligence?

I have a couple of things to say about this issue: I was adviser to the (resigned) minister of agriculture Talal Sahili and I worked with him for a brief period before resigning softly from my post (by stopping to go to the ministry). I had been the adviser to the previous minister too and had “softly resigned” too (by the way this is an unpaid assignment) because of the inefficiency and the lack of will in the government to seriously address agriculture. This time, I decided to try to do something, just one thing that could impact farming positively at the level of policy and its implementation.

I invited a small group representing the farming supply chain: One food industrialist, one medium scale farmer, and one large farmer/trader. I asked them: what is the single most important action this ministry could take to support agriculture without giving direct subsidies? They all agreed it was the control of the quality of the imports at the borders. We met several times with the people in charge of this file in the ministry and the minister even graced us with his presence once. Everybody was positive, but nothing happened. Why? As far as I could fathom, these are the reasons:

1. There are no facilities at any of the borders for inspection, no staff (qualified or not), and no system. There needs to be serious investment in staff recruitment, training, and in the creation of facilities. But the Saniora government would not disburse any money for that.
2. There is no consumer bureau in Lebanon. I mean there is one and the director is my friend, but it is inoperative. It does not have enough staff to check the quality in 1 shop a day. So they just let it go, waiting for things to change. A project for capacity building of the consumer office has been implemented in 2007, but without resources to recruit and operate, this is all money wasted on consultants.
3. The government in Lebanon does not in any way want to be perceived as hindering imports. They are worried that quality control could be perceived as non-trade tariff barriers (which they are of course, but this is the way our produce is treated every where).
4. The government of Lebanon does not want to promote local consumption of locally produced goods. Most of the development projects they endorse are designed to enhance export (Export-plus, the EU’s Agricultural Development Project, USAID’s agricultural development projects). Even the Geographic Indicators project (in which I am a consultant to the Swiss implementing agency) has been suffering from this. Instead of being a project to support local recognition of Lebanese products as it is everywhere else in the world, the Ministry of Economy and Trade wants it to be directed at exports only. Nowhere else in the world has there been a Geographic Indication that has been successful abroad before being successful locally. If the name “Kfarfila Sweet Onion” is not recognized and demanded and protected in Lebanon, how can it mean something to a customer in, say, Britain?

I am often told: you always complain about the government not supporting agriculture in Lebanon, and you never give any alternative that is realistic and viable. My answer is that it all depends on what you mean by realistic and viable. The starting point of any discussion on development and trade, especially for food and farm products has become the free market and unbridled competition. It is now our given. This is the greatest achievement of neo-liberal economist: free trade and ultra liberalization have become the grand narrative which has to be satisfied in quasi-religious manner and which precedes any other goal. You want to fight poverty? Fine, but it has to abide by market rules and to be translated into monetary terms. Mohammad Younis of Grameen bank has been given the Nobel because he has shown that the poor are bankable, according to market rule. You want to conserve the environment? Good for you, so start showing that it makes financial sense, otherwise don’t count on any support. So we invent economic methods of the most ludicrous type to commodify the environment, like the polluter pays principle or carbon credits, which allow us to keep polluting as long as we can pay for it.

But local farming is and should be different. I have written why before. There is much more to farming than economics and money. Like there is much more to art or beauty than money. People may want to eat local, because it reaches somewhere deep inside their soul, a place where what has neither utility nor efficiency can still find a place (Not my words, these are Romain Gary’s).

Any government, even the weakest, can do something about supporting local food systems, even without taking protectionist measures (in which there is no shame). The first and foremost action is to “bridge the information gap” that is to impose on vendors to tell the truth about the origin of the products they sell. This way, we can have the choice to purchase produce according to its origin, and to pay a premium if we so wish. This is NOT difficult to implement. This is much easier than imposing VAT or creating Solidaire, believe me. But the problem is that this government will not lift a finger to support the productive side of the economy, or to interfere with trade. Supporting local production through identifying origins may be the first step of something bigger, like food quality criteria. Imagine if we took a decision to clearly label GMO-containing foods. There goes US grain, US junk food, US soybean oil, and US confectionary. The bulk of our food import bill. Now the US masters will NOT be very happy with that, will they?

Mendicity as a strategy for development

"Lama Oueijan, a project manager for the United Nations Development Project and an adviser to the Lebanese economy and trade minister, acknowledged the agricultural sector's complaints, and said the recent political instability in Lebanon has pushed agricultural issues down on the list of governmental priorities. "There is simply not time to focus on agriculture in Lebanon," she said...

She argued instead that gaps in financing are the more pressing problem for the Lebanese agricultural sector, saying that agricultural projects planned by the Association of Lebanese Farmers are currently short on funding. She added that international organizations can play a role in helping to remedy these shortfalls.

Oueijan also placed some of the blame on the farmers themselves, saying they "weren't properly organized" before the recent establishment of the Association of Lebanese Farmers."

The Sanioura government's (and Haddadamus's and his advisor) plan for agriculture:

1. Blame the victims
2. Subcontract the sector to charities and aid donors