Food security in Lebanon, a country that relies heavily on food imports, has been deteriorating daily amid an unabating rise in food prices which are expected to further increase as of May with the application of a higher exchange rate to the dollar on customs duties.
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Since the onset of the economic crisis in 2019 and in light of the absence of a functional government, food security in Lebanon has been gradually compromised, prompting the private sector and international organizations to step in to mitigate a looming food crisis affecting the majority of the population.
Customs duties on imported goods, which were set at 45,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, will be calculated according to the dollar’s higher exchange rate on the Sayrafa platform starting May 1, further increasing the number of people subjected to food insecurity.
While agricultural and food imports account for more than 80 percent of food supply, farmers also import a large proportion of agricultural inputs, like seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides.
Nora Ourabah Haddad, Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Lebanon, underlined “the urgent need to transform the country’s agrifood systems to make them more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and more sustainable.”
“Lebanon imports most of its food supply, and the contribution of the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors to the country’s economy represented (a mere) 2.5% in 2020,” Haddad told This Is Beirut.
“Moreover, available product diversity has been decreasing across the country as suppliers have been discontinuing imports of products priced at the informal market rate due to the decreasing purchasing power of consumers.”
Skyrocketing inflation of food prices forced many Lebanese to change their eating habits, including abandoning meat and dairy foods for cheaper commodities, which could lead to potential health vulnerabilities and deficiencies in essential nutrients.
According to the World Food Program (WFP), inflation in food prices reached an exorbitant 11,300% since the economy began unravelling in 2019, including 260% last year and 40% in the first four months of 2023. The Lebanese pound has since lost more than 98% of its value.
FAO has been collaborating closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and partners to develop integrated interventions aimed at making agrifood systems more inclusive and sustainable within an adequate enabling environment. It is also working on enhancing the sustainable management of natural resources, including water resources and forest management, and developing mechanisms for climate change mitigation.
“These interventions help small farmers and fishers increase their productivity, encourage collective action through the development of farmers’ cooperatives to reduce agricultural production costs, and improve local and export market integration as well as production quality and safety,” Haddad said.
Lebanon is blessed with diverse micro climates that allow the cultivation of a variety of agricultural products ranging from tropical fruits like banana, mango, and avocado, which can be grown on the coastline, to apples in the high-altitude mountains.
“But bad farming practices and the scarce availability of large agricultural lands prevent production on a big scale, as more than 70% of farmers are small hold farmers with a fragmented production,” Soha Nasser, Food Innovation Expert at Berytech, said in an interview with This Is Beirut.
Berytech figures among the local incubators and accelerators that have designed new strategies to scale up and accelerate growth of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and it supports startups and innovations in the agriculture and food processing sector.
The Agrytech Accelerator, Berytech’s flagship program, was launched in 2017 to support innovative startups with tech solutions for the agri-food sector.
“Those who have innovative ideas for the agricultural sector are offered grants, 11 months of technical assistance, and direct support at the business level until their ideas are developed into businesses. At least 38 startups have been developed under the program,” Nasser said.
Among successful startups incubated at Berytech is Dooda Vermicompost, which uses worms to turn organic waste into natural compost that is sold to farmers at low prices, and the House of Lilys that works on a natural spray fertilizer.
Other programs target existing micro to medium agri-food enterprises focusing on the scaling of their products to reduce import dependency. “At least 8 companies, mostly working on import substitution, were assisted through grants, technical training, food safety, marketing, and rebranding,” Nasser said.
