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Sowing the seeds for disaster
ENAR

by Peter Speetjens

Bekaa farmers and Lebanon’s Sugar Beet Cooperation argue that Lebanese agriculture cannot survive without government support. Like most farmers around the world, they oppose today’s belief in free trade and insist that the wealth of agriculture cannot be measured in terms of price of profit alone. “If there is no support for sugar beet while the growing of hashish remains banned, agriculture in the Bekaa valley will collapse completely,” said farmer Ayoub Kazoun, from Qab Elias, a small town south of Chtaura. “It’s already happening. There are families living here in Qab Elias, who cannot pay for heating or electricity and banks are confiscating homes left and right. The situation is disastrous.” Kazoun used to grow sugar beet, but now plants mainly potatoes and animal feed. Unlike most Bekaa farmers, who lost tens of thousands dollars last summer due to the Syrian border closure, Kazoun escaped financial disaster, as he

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