@FAO-LEB the Lebanese Minister of Agriculture with FAO REP in Lebanon and the Norwegian Embassy representative

Beirut – 17 August 2016
The Lebanese Minister of Agriculture, Mr Akram Chehayeb, stressed on the importance of the continuous efforts aimed at strengthening and developing reforestation process initiatives by non-governmental organizations, civil communities, and the private sector. The development of programs and the implementation of reforestation activities that include the improvement of operational and technical aspects of tracking the source of seeds and ensuring their quality will promote the spread of forests in areas that are still untapped; thus increasing the green areas in Lebanon.
Minister Chehayeb added that the signing of the project agreement titled "National Center of Forest Seeds of Lebanon" with FAO is owed to the serious and continuous cooperation between the two institutions. This project is part of a series of projects that aim to increase forest areas in Lebanon, as they have suffered from cutting, fires, sanders and quarries.
Within this framework, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Akram Chehayeb, and the Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Dr. Maurice Saade, signed today a project agreement titled "National Center of Forest Seeds of Lebanon" in the presence of the Deputy Head of Mission to the Norwegian Embassy, Ms. Ane Jørem and the President of the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute, Dr. Michel Afram. The project is funded by the State of Norway with an estimated budget of US $ 373,032 for two years, starting September 2016 until September 2018.
The project’s main goal is to set up a national center for seeds in Lebanon with a high level of expertise that is capable of ensuring seed quality, tracing seed origin, improving seed storing processes, and providing seeds for better use in various reforestation areas in an efficient and effective manner to increase the quality of plants that adapt to various elements and climate conditions.
The project is in line with the priority of the Ministry of Agriculture to create an effective mechanism to monitor seed quality and trace its source, as well as improve its storing process and its planting and production phases. The FAO will support the Ministry of Agriculture and the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institution (LARI) in building the capacities of specialized and technical cadres, and empowering them to implement the project’s activities in all of its stages. This is in addition to the transfer of necessary knowledge and important technological techniques to the Ministry of Agriculture through study tours to Norway, in order to ensure that national expertise is continuously and effectively managing the center after the end of the project.