Unit 1: Sustainability in

Agriculture and Food Systems

Sustainable Water and Land

Management in Agriculture

Ali HACHEM
2020-2021
 Lebanon is a country located in the heart of the Middle East with an area of 10,452 square
kilometers and has always been a major producer of a variety of agricultural products (Markou &
Kavazis, 2006). The Agricultural sector generates around 3.5% of Lebanon’s GDP and employs
roughly 6% of the Lebanese labor force (IDAL, 2017).
The agricultural sector has always been facing a series of challenges that can be divided into three
main categories which are the environmental, the economic and the socio-cultural challenges.
For the environmental challenges, climate change is the most common one and, like the rest of the
region, Lebanon faces increased drought risk. The Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute
(LARI) reports a 40 to 50 percent decrease in rainfall in the country compared with an average
year. In May 2014, there were just 431 millimeters of rainfall since September 2013. This was less
than half the previous year’s total of 905.8 millimeters and well below the yearly average of 812
millimeters (Christensen et al., 2018). Droughts that used to occur every six to eight years now
take place every one to two years (Farajallah, 2019). Also, temperatures are rising, The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change established that from 1998 to 2012, there was no
perceived warming, but from 2012 to 2016, the warming increased by 0.6°C and it was ranked to
be the hottest year on record (Christensen et al., 2018).
Regarding land degradation, several natural and human-induced factors contributed to land
degradation in the country. Natural factors include rugged topography with 64% of the territory
that has complex landform with sloping and steep slopes, poor drainage, weak lithology and
torrential rainfall. Whereas human-induced factors are mainly forest fires, inappropriate irrigation
practices and fertilizer application, chaotic urban sprawl which led to the loss of 60% of prime
coastal lands (Darwish et al, 2012).
Water resources in Lebanon are abundant, varying from natural wells, rivers and lakes. Although
the country is considered rich from this point of view, still, the main challenge exists through the
use of water and its accessibility, since it is not equally distributed to all regions, and it is
excessively used by farmers that have access and most of it is wasted by inappropriate irrigation.
Also, pollution by pesticides, fertilizers and sewage make the use of water very strict in Lebanon.
For the economic challenges, high levels of food import dependency and low levels of food-self
efficiency have been noticed in Lebanon with 65-80% of food basket is imported (Bahn & Yehya,
2020), which was emphasized by the Lebanese crisis along with COVID -19. Additional to this,
the government was unable to provide subsidies to the farmers to help them with their business
and the poor advanced planning of the whole structure made it worse.
Socio-cultural challenges include for example the cultivation of vineyards for the production of
liquor which is prohibited by Muslims in the country. Also, there is a lack of human resources that
could’ve made a difference in society. Moreover, Syrian refugees are turning into a heavy burden
on Lebanon with their drastically increasing needs over time. And above all, poverty prevails in
almost all the Lebanese regions and has a tremendous impact on all sectors especially on
agriculture.
Lebanon is clubbed with middle range countries in food security. According to the
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), 49% of Lebanese are reportedly
worried about their ability to access enough food, and 31% of them state that they were unable to
eat healthy and nutritious food over the course of a year. These statistics related to food security
in Lebanon became even worse especially after the flow of Syrian refugees. While physical access
to food is most problematic in the North and the South, economic access is compromised all over
the country. Increasing population and decreasing water availability will affect food production
and affect food security (Awwad, 2020).
Each of the abovementioned challenges can, per se, affect food and nutrition security in the country
in its own manner. To be more specific, the impact of drought was particularly significant on
agriculture, since most of the farmers irrigate their fields by digging channels that divert water
from wells and local rivers. So, farmers, due to drought, were obliged to pump groundwater, rarely
available and rapidly diminishing supply, which led to higher production costs, and so, less
accessibility for the whole community to various food products (Christensen et al., 2018).
Moreover, higher temperatures, changes in precipitation and extreme weather events reduced
agriculture productivity with destruction to greenhouses and floods killing most of the field
growing crops, which impacted human health and food security. Land degradation caused the
disappearance of agricultural systems and also the contamination of water resources, which led to
the restriction of food availability, access and utilization and eventually stability. This also
contributed to the loss of biodiversity.
Economic challenges, such as the economic crisis that hit Lebanon in 2019, conducted to a
significant currency devaluation and price inflation by 500% of almost all products in the market,
including imported food so as the local food products since the raw materials used in agriculture
are mostly imported, and impacted household’s ability to access food (Bahn & Yehya, 2020). This
was largely highlighted by the devastating blast of Port of Beirut in August 2020, COVID-19 and
the sanctions imposed on Syria, which have all together made trading restricted since almost all of
the commercial exits damaged or closed, inducing a further increase in prices, decrease in
agricultural production, lack of both food availability and accessibility and finally loss of food
security.
Lack of human resources and poor advanced planning impacted directly food security pillars by
shrinking the agricultural lands through inappropriate management practices. On the first hand,
rising rates of poverty reduced food accessibility, also causing shifts in household consumption by
coping through the reduced quality of food (Bahn & Yehya, 2020). On the other hand, diets are
changing in Lebanon, and people are moving away from micronutrient-rich diet towards western
diets which are rich in energy, sugar and fats and resulted in a higher incidence of obesity, and a
consequently higher risk of chronic diseases.
As mentioned before, Lebanon is under the pressure of an incomparable period of
challenges and stresses, that requires an immediate and clear response to achieve a radical recovery
and pave the way for a transformative sustainable development. Policies in Lebanon include the
National Agriculture Strategy 2020-2025 (NAS), framed by the Ministry of Agriculture with a
vision to make the agri-food system the main contributor to the achievement of food security and
a key driver of resilience and transformation of the Lebanese economy into a productive economy
and to transform the Lebanese agri-food system into a more resilient, inclusive, competitive and
sustainable system (MoA, 2020). This strategy is composed of five strategic pillars. The first one
is restoring the livelihood and productive capacities of farmers and producers, the second one is
increasing agricultural production and productivity. The third one is enhancing efficiency and
competitiveness of agri-food value chains, the fourth one is improving climate change adaptation
and sustainable management systems and natural resources, while the fifth and last one is
strengthening the enabling institutional environment.
The NAS is a path of initiation of a transition towards a sustainable food system within the
Lebanese community, that triggers food and nutrition security in the country, with the perspective
of a food system transformation and efficiency increase. It ensures and facilitates access to inputs
and tools to maintain agricultural production capacity, so as the access to subsidized agri-loans for
farmers. It also intends to increase the total agricultural production by increasing the total cropped
areas, animal and aquaculture production and enhance productivity. The strategy supports the
adoption of agricultural practices, innovative and modern technologies, good livestock
management and the improvement of the quality and safety of agricultural and food products.
Climate change is also addressed by increasing its adaptation and encouraging the related private
investment along the agri-food value chains. NAS promotes the sustainable use of natural
resources including soil, pastures, forest and fisheries, along with the sustainable use of irrigation
water and renewable energy in the agricultural sector. It also expands the supply of water resources
for irrigation. Several other programmes of this strategy include the support of the modernization
of value chain infrastructure and post-harvest handling systems, wholesale and local markets,
encouragement of private investment, enhancement of utilization of locally produced primary
products and the promotion and organization of cooperative work with the farmers’ associations
and groups at the level of the value chains. It is also of great interest since it enhances the
effectiveness of the services offered by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and its affiliated
institutions by developing staff capacities, in company with the sectoral governance to maximize
public and private development financing. It strengthens the efficiency and effectiveness of the
agricultural and knowledge information system and develops a social protection system for
vulnerable farmers, farmworkers, producers and fishers creating enabling conditions for the
development of agricultural insurance to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters. By saying that
NAS is based on efficiency increase, it means that it considers the production by the use of
innovative techniques and strategies to reduce the environmental impacts while increasing the
productivity as mentioned before, alongside the sustainable use of primary products and natural
resources and the efficiency enhancement of climate change adaptation and the institutional
environment which is also covered in this strategy. By saying that it is based also on the food
system transformation, this means the implication of the whole value chain, including different
actors and activities such as the distribution and the post-harvest, so as the food industry, the
exports and the markets. It also gives a great attention to the sectoral governance in order to
maximize both public and private development financing.
The NAS doesn’t actually address the demand restraint of the consumer, which is based on the
restriction or the reduction of the demand on the output or the end-products produced by the
agricultural sector or the adoption of a certain diet. This strategy can actually change the
architecture of the food system because it encompasses also the social, economic and
environmental components that can, over time and space, interact among themselves and create a
new emerged sustainable food system.
Pillars of the NAS focus on different dimensions of the food system, one of them is the availability
of agricultural products which is enhanced through the increase of total agricultural production,
but this will negatively affect the environment since more productivity will harm the soil and it
will induce the depletion of non-renewable or slowly renewable resources. Subsidies access and
inputs facilitation will ensure further access to the products and will reduce the risk of worsening
levels of food and nutrition insecurity. The improved quality and safety of agricultural and food
products, along with the post-harvest handling systems which will assure the adequate wholesale
and local markets distribution, will all impact directly the utilization of food products positively
by guaranteeing proper use of diversified, high-quality end-products. While the NAS strategy
assures the development of agricultural and social insurance, to help farmers overtake disasters on
different levels, we can’t neglect the economic crisis happening in Lebanon and probably
extending in the upcoming years, which is affecting the whole country, including the Ministry, the
insurance companies and the stakeholders. Furthermore, it will definitely have impact on this
strategy in general and on the stability in particular, which will, in turn, affect the availability, the
access and the utilization. In addition to the economic crisis, there is also COVID-19 and the
political instability occurring in the country which imposed a much greater effect on the stability
of the food system. But generally speaking, and in my opinion, with no external factors or
interventions, the strategy will have no negative impact on any of the dimensions of food security
and it will be a steady and great transition towards sustainability, that will reach all the Lebanese
community.
Bibliography
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