McKinsey’s agriculture plan

When the conclusions of the $1.4 million McKinsey Lebanon Economic Vision first came to light, social media feeds were flooded with videos praising the consultancy firm’s magical solutions to the country’s economic woes: avocado and cannabis.  Many even began to imagine a Lebanon on its way to becoming an avocado toast and cannabis-infused-water-pipe millennials’ paradise. These headline grabbing snippets from the McKinsey report actually hid the core of the firm’s diagnostic of the Lebanese economy. An economy that “over the last 40 years, did not create any significant incremental wealth,” and in which “persistent corruption and legislative inefficiencies have further perpetuated the government’s inability to spur economic growth.” The country has, the report states, an “unconducive business environment and lagging infrastructure” (Lebanon ranks 133 out of 190 countries for ease of doing business, and 121 out of 137 countries for road infrastructure). The avocado and cannabis wow factor also did