Lebanese farmers demand action after smuggled Syrian onions flood market

BEIRUT: Lebanese farmers have raised concerns over dumping after huge quantities of smuggled Syrian onions appeared on the Lebanese market at prices lower than local offerings.

The farmers are demanding that Lebanese customs authorities pursue the smugglers.

Ibrahim Tarshishi, head of the Bekaa Farmers Association, told Arab News: “The Lebanese customs cooperated with us and began confiscating the smuggled goods, but the matter will not stop. Soon, Syrian potato products will be smuggled.

“The regions of Tripoli and Akkar in northern Lebanon live on vegetables and fruits smuggled from Syria, and no one pursues the smugglers. However, when it comes to flooding the Lebanese market with smuggled Syrian goods, the matter cannot be tolerated.”

Lebanon’s agricultural sector is under severe strain, and farmers are struggling to survive amid an economic crisis exacerbated by the collapse of the national currency and a doubling of the cost of production and farm tools since 2019. Farmers are also suffering the effects of a ban on exports to Arab markets that was enacted following a diplomatic crisis with Gulf states.

“There are 200 tons of onions a day which are pumped into the Lebanese market at cheap prices,” Tarshishi said. “Vegetable wholesalers get smuggled onions delivered. This is not permissible in our markets, especially since the onion season production is not exported to any country. It is sold where it is produced because countries have become self-sufficient in this product. We have 25,000 tons of onions to sell in Lebanon until April 1. We will not let farmers cry for their hard work, loss and indifference of state officials.”

The Lebanese agricultural sector represents 7 percent of gross domestic product and is the third largest sector after services and industry. Agriculture provides an income for about 15 percent of the population, including 250,000 families.

About 60 percent of Lebanon’s land is arable, but only 20 percent is cultivated. There are large areas of agricultural land on which houses and buildings are built, especially in the fertile Bekaa Valley.

Despite the Lebanese economy’s need for agriculture, farmers say the sector is neglected by the state, with citizens suffering from high prices of vegetables and fruits as a result.

Even before 2019, Lebanese farmers complained of an inability to pay costs, although the state provided them with soft loans and subsidized exports, as well as opened markets, Tarshishi said. Saudi Arabia was also open to Lebanese imports.

But following this year’s harvest, the state is absent, loans are unavailable, markets are closed, farmers’ funds are frozen and smuggling crossings are open, he added.

It is estimated that more than 50 percent of farmers in Lebanon have given up investing in the agricultural sector due to a lack of liquidity.

Farmers were previously encouraged to grow soft wheat, which is used to make Arabic bread. The state pledged to buy the wheat from farmers instead of importing it with hard currency. But farmers say that that call was a “big lie.”

Tarshishi said: “There are about 30,000 tons of soft wheat stacked in farmers’ warehouses, with a value of more than $20 million. Farmers do not know how to sell this production.

“Lebanese mills refused to buy national wheat because they prefer to buy state-subsidized wheat through the World Bank because the price per kilo is 3,000 Lebanese pounds ($0.20), while the price per kilo of national wheat is 30,000 Lebanese pounds ($2).

“Mills preferred cheaper wheat while the state transferred dollars to foreign countries to buy wheat. It is a policy with the utmost irresponsibility.”

Farmers in the Bekaa Valley are turning to alternative crops, Tarshishi said.

“Because of smuggling and neglect, we started thinking outside of tradition. We started growing dozens of varieties of grapes in large quantities to sell them in traditional and non-traditional markets,” he added.

“We now have markets in Africa, Australia, Brazil and the Near East. As for potatoes, we also moved toward the type that can be frozen to make chips and French fries, and production exceeded 60,000 tons.”

In southern Lebanon, according to Tarshishi, “farmers uprooted the citrus trees that the southern coast of Lebanon is famous for and turned to banana cultivation. However, they faced difficulty this year in selling the production.”

Markets are also selling lychee fruits farmed in Lebanon after the success of avocado and kiwi cultivation. There are also attempts to cultivate Iranian saffron, sage and thyme.

Saffron cultivation is widespread in Iran, and a number of Lebanese farmers have begun to cultivate the spice in high mountainous areas such as Jabal Al-Rihan and Marjayoun.

“It is not an alternative agriculture, but rather an additional one,” said Qassim Hassan, an agricultural engineer. “There is a trend by a generation of new farmers for non-traditional, economically feasible agriculture.”

It takes four years to start producing saffron, which can fetch up to $8,000 per kilo.

Another alternative crop, sage, is used in the manufacture of medicines and medical products. Farmers export sage to Jordan and the US. Elham Mohammed Lubani, who works in agriculture with her husband Hosni Jaber, said: “Picking the sage plant from the banks of the Litani River and Beaufort Castle is popular. But this year the production was less because of the intense heat wave.

“This year, we collected about 180 kilos of this plant, and a merchant comes to the region, collects the crop, and then ships it to Jordan and other countries.”

The rain-fed sage is scattered in the valleys near the Litani River, but the plant is dwindling in quantity because of harvesting errors.

Other farmers have turned to planting thyme. Hassan said: “Farmers have now turned to blackberry cultivation, and it seems to be a successful experience. Others are cultivating new types of mushrooms. Most of these farmers are of the new generation; university graduates and their parents work in agriculture. Civil associations support them in their projects.”

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