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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Experts say farmers must go green to export
  • Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 12:41:18 -0600


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/11_06_03/art15.asp
Experts say farmers must go green to export
EU urges end to dangerous pesticides

Nayla Assaf
Daily Star staff

Local farmers will not be able to sell their stock unless they start using
environmentally friendly cultivation techniques, experts from the United
Nations and the Environment Ministry warned Tuesday.
Lebanon will need to resort to “environmentally clean” agriculture, for
local produce to be admitted to the European Union, the experts said,
placing the EU as the best market prospect for local produce.
The day-long conference took place at Le Bristol Hotel in Hamra and related
the results of a study conducted by the ministry aimed at phasing out
Methyl Bromide for land fumigation.
Methyl bromide, which is widely used by farmers here , is highly polluting
and leaves harmful residue in crops that are failing to meet European and
international standards.
“The best place for us to export is Europe,” Roula Sheikh, an expert
from the Environment Ministry said.
She explained that since the cost of agriculture here was high, it was
impossible for Lebanese products to compete on price. “We should rather
focus on quality-based competition, which has a market in Europe,” she
said.
“But it’s definitely not a piece of cake because Europeans are
extremely meticulous as to quality control, especially concerning
pesticides and chemical residue,” Sheikh added.
Sheikh said the phasing out of chemical fumigation and the reduction of
pesticides will lead to environmental and economic benefit, since farmers
will see an increase in the product sales.
It will also lead to social benefits, she said, because the creation of new
markets will help create new jobs.
Ariane Saadeh, a United Nations Development Program project manager,
introduced non-chemical techniques for soil fumigation, which included
solarization, bio-fumigation and grafting.
Saadeh also stressed that the EU was Lebanon’s best potential export
market.
Among the recommendations she gave for Lebanese produce to become more
competitive on the international market were building stakeholder networks,
identifying potential export markets, identifying and promoting the most
demanded and suitable crops for exports and promoting an alternative to
Methyl Bromide.
The conference also gathered speakers from the Investment Development
Authority of Lebanon, the Council for Development and Reconstruction and
from the Lebanese Standards Association (LIBNOR).
Antoine Semaan, director general of LIBNOR, said that it was up to farmers
to identify their export markets.
“People often request that we set standards for export,” he said.
“But this is impossible because such standards will have to come from
recipient countries, we can only set the standards that we want on our own
market.”
The agricultural sector contributes almost 12.4 percent of Lebanon’s
gross domestic product (GDP). Agricultural products represent about 10
percent of exports. Related activities such as storage, refrigeration and
food processing represent a further 10 percent. Lebanon imports around 75
percent of its food needs, which amount to $1.5 billion.
The agriculture labor force has declined from 55 percent in 1950 to 20
percent in 1970, reaching 11 percent in 1996 of the total active labor
force. This decline is due to the strong migration of the agricultural
labors to rural areas.
In addition, foreign labor has been increasingly replacing Lebanese
workers.
The number of workers in agriculture is estimated to be around 114,000 of
1,030,000.




  • [Livingontheland] Experts say farmers must go green to export, Tradingpost, 06/11/2003

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