The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Lebanon organized a six days training for the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)’s technical and regional departments, on orchard establishment and management from design to implementation, guiding farmers all over Lebanon in designing their orchard and making their farming more productive.

This training activity falls within the framework of the project “Enhancing resilient livelihoods and food security of host communities and Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon through the promotion of sustainable agricultural development”. It is funded by the European Union and jointly implemented by FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in cooperation with the MoA.

During the training, guided by the FAO expert, the twenty eight trainees from the MoA worked on orchards’ design case studies.

The first five days of the training were mostly theoretical tackling topics such as orchard design, land and soil preparation, selection of rootstocks and new fruit trees varieties, choice of the appropriate training system per fruit tree, weed management, itemized costs of orchard establishment, in addition to showcasing good practices. The training then took a more practical approach and was complemented with a field day in Ain Bourday (Baalbeck caza) and Terbol (Zahle caza). On that day, participants were able to assess land reclamation and orchard establishment works in slope and rocky lands as well as to learn about training and pruning systems of apple and grapevine varieties and to assess the trellis system.

“This type of trainings enables the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) to support farmers in Lebanon in their agricultural investments”, confirmed Mr. Louis Lahoud, MoA’s Director General, on the last day of the training.

Brief on the project “Enhancing resilient livelihoods and food security of host communities and Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon through the promotion of sustainable agricultural development”:

The project responds to the reduced livelihood and food security levels resulting from the Syrian crisis, in Jordan and Lebanon. It tackles its negative impact on the host communities through support to the agriculture sector in improving the agricultural productivity and the farmers’ income in addition to the creation of job opportunities for both host communities and displaced Syrians.

In line with the national policy strategy and with the current Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), the project also aims at promoting social protection mechanisms for the benefit of the host farming community and the displaced population.