What are sustainable agriculture and traditional farming like in Lebanon?
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The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, a California certified farmers market operated by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA), is open every Tuesday and Saturday. Started as a one-time event in 1992, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market’s popularity led to the opening of a year-round market in May 1993.
Question by rrrobin: What are sustainable agriculture and traditional farming like in Lebanon?
What do rural, traditional farming practices look like in Lebanon today?
Any organic farms or urban garden projects in Lebanon?
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One Response to What are sustainable agriculture and traditional farming like in Lebanon?
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hey below is a lot of real data/information. I hope it helps and sorry if it is too big. I just tried to give you the best information to help answer your question. I hope it helps. And I really hope I could be picked as best answer. Thanks and have a great day!
Agriculture in Lebanon is the third most important sector in the country after the tertiary and industrial sectors. Main crops include Cereals (mainly wheat and barley), fruits and vegetables, olives, grapes, and tobacco, along with sheep and goat herding. Lebanon, which has a variety of agricultural lands, from the interior plateau of the Beqaa Valley to the narrow valleys leading downward to the sea, enables farmers to grow both European and Tropical crops. Tobacco and figs are grown in the south, citrus fruits and bananas along the coast, olives in the north and around the Shouf Mountains, and fruits and vegetables in the Beqaa Valley. More exotic crops include avocados, grown near Byblos, and hashish (a major crop in the Beqaa Valley).
Lebanon’s agriculture, which offers fertile land, landscaped terraces, and fresh and healthy produce, faces several challenges in recent years. Improper agricultural practices leading to soil erosion and impoverishment, depletion of underground water resources, water pollution and health impacts from inappropriate use of pesticides and fertilizers, and environmental pollution from haphazard dumping of slaughter waste and animal farms are from the main problems of this sector. Agriculture is diminishing due to an increase in population in urban areas. The government’s policies appear to be targeting the increase in the availability of water irrigation (especially in the South) and controlling the use of pesticides, with no or little investment or incentives for water- and soil-conserving irrigation techniques.
Livestock production in Lebanon is an important activity, particularly in mountainous areas and in the Baalbek-Hermel area on the eastern mountain chain where soil fertility is relatively low. Today, Bovines and dairy production is becoming increasingly popular. In the past five years, several medium-to large-scale dairy farms have been established in the North and in the Beqaa.
Lebanon produces a variety of fruits and vegetables. The largest crops include potatoes, oranges, apples and grapes. Exotic crops include avocados mainly in north Mount Lebanon and hashish in the Beqaa valley.
Horticulture has traditionally provided the Lebanese with all their fresh fruit and vegetable needs, with a smaller export industry. However, loosened border controls and increasing imports have threatened local industries. In recent years governmental projects such as Export Plus have put into action the encouragement of local fruits and vegetables production, quality control and investment incentives for farmers in order to boost their produce and raise the level of the Lebanese horticulture industry.
Viticulture in Lebanon, which is considered a thriving industry nowadays, is mainly concentrated in the Beqaa Valley with wineries producing an annual amount of approximately 600,000 cases of wine. Lebanese wine has an export success, with many wineries exporting over 50% of their production – and in the case of smaller wineries, as much as 90%.
The value of exported dairy products of Lebanon’s dairy industry have been diminishing in recent years except for cheese which has gained a significant rise in its value.
David S
October 31, 2011 at 9:51 am