The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Lebanon (FAO) under the overall technical leadership and guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) will be implementing a program to support small-scale farmers funded by a re-allocation of US$10 million from the existing World Bank financed Roads and Employment Project. The program is expected to benefit around 26 700 small-scale farmers who have suffered from the ongoing economic crisis and from this year’s COVID-19-related planting and harvesting delays. It will also provide approximately 1 million animal vaccine doses to contribute to the annual livestock vaccination campaign.

Under this program, each eligible farmers will receive vouchers valued at US$300  for the procurement of essential inputs to enable continued agricultural production. Two types of vouchers will be provided: vouchers for crop production inputs (fertilizers, seeds, seedlings and other eligible inputs) and vouchers for animal production inputs, mostly feed.

Farmers throughout Lebanon would be eligible to apply for support through the voucher scheme, with the number of target beneficiaries in each Governorate reflecting the relative agricultural contribution and number of farmers by Governorate. Applications will be reviewed by Regional Selection Committees composed of representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO. Selection will be based on clearly pre-defined eligibility criteria. A random sample of at least 15 percent of the selected beneficiaries in each region will be validated through field visits by a Third Party Monitoring Agent.

Given that most agricultural inputs in Lebanon are imported, all transactions between the input suppliers and eligible farmers will be processed in US dollars through vouchers. FAO will be responsible for identifying and selecting the input suppliers in accordance with agreed eligibility criteria. FAO will also be responsible for verifying that all eligible beneficiaries were able receive their vouchers and to redeem them with the suppliers to purchase inputs from a pre-selected list of eligible inputs and according to the quality specifications and prices agreed between FAO and the participating suppliers. Once verified, FAO will ensure timely payments in US dollars to the suppliers upon their submission of the redeemed vouchers.

“FAO is building on its similar agricultural inputs voucher schemes experience in Lebanon and the world with the aim to contribute to restoring the livelihoods and productive capacities of farmers and producers and increasing agricultural production and productivity in Lebanon”, said Maurice Saade, FAO Representative in Lebanon. “Those being the first two pillars of the National Agricultural Strategy recently adopted by the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture with technical support from FAO.”

For additional information, please check here or call: 79-300507