In an article published in Al-Akhbar newspaper, Hassan Shakarani draws comparisons between the Lebanese and the Japanese economies stressing the importance on enhancing women’s role in the economy as a strategic option for sustaining growth. Shakarani reviewed the various factors preventing women’s access to leading managerial posts and recommended measures to boost their participation in the job market. In comparison to the Japanese model where women’s participation amounts is of around 63% - a percentage which is generally considered law - the Lebanese model represents a much worse image since women participation in the Lebanese job market amounts to only 25%.
Former Minister of Labor and Social & Economic Researcher, Charbel Nahas, placed this low rate in the context of the chaotic job market in Lebanon where formal employment totals no more than 30% against 95% some in other countries.
As to the situation of women in particular, Nahas indicated that, despite the high proportion of women with higher education and the growing need for women labor in the job market, the level of economic participation of women remains low. Due to the high emigration rates, especially among the youth population, the Lebanese society is rapidly heading towards becoming an “old society” at a much quicker rate that our Arab counterparts according to data provided by the Arab Labor Organization. Therefore, Nahas believes that the Japanese experience can provide some insights on how to enhance women’s role in economic activities with the aim of tuning down the adverse effects of emigration and strengthening the growth of the economy.
For his part, Professor of Economy at the American University in Beirut, Jad Chaaban, said that measures aimed at reviving the Lebanese economy must start by reforming the labor law, while putting an end to the obvious prejudice against women and revoking all forms of discrimination against them such as in the cases of child-rearing and maternity leaves. Such actions will undoubtedly support women and will enhance their economic role.
Also according to Chaaban, the key problem relates to the limited size and quality of jobs created by the Lebanese society. Women’s high level of education pushes them to wait for a better paid job, which may never come. Thus, married women prefer staying at home and waiting for that bank transfer coming in from abroad rather than to work for a low wage. It is worthy noting that transfers of funds to Lebanon exceed 6.8 billion dollars annually.

Source: Al-Akhbar 18 October 2012

Results of the annual NOWARA contest prizes for best economic initiatives implemented by rural women were released yesterday in a ceremony organized by the National Observatory for Women in Agriculture and Rural Areas (NOWARA) and held one day before at the Ministry of Agriculture on Monday. The ceremony on October 15 was held on the occasion of the International Rural Women Day and was headed by the Minister of Agriculture, Hussein al-Hajj Hassan and former Minister, Wafaa al-Diqa Hamza. The winners of the 2012 prizes were as follows:

• In the category of ready-made rural foods – Freelance category: the winner was Fatima Zein, the Director of Ajami al-Mrooj establishment – Shoukeen, Nabatieh
• In the category of food and agricultural processing: The prize winner among cooperatives was Al-Ameera cooperative headed by Naoofa Ja3far and located in Dar al-Was3a, Baalbeck.
• NOWARA prize in the field of food and agricultural processing – Freelance category was shared by Dunia Bassil, the owner of Joozoorina establishment from Smaar Jbeil, Batroon; and Mayssoon Abu Matar, the Director of the Al-Koowara Natural Food institution – Kfarkatra, Shoof.

The meeting also saw the announcement about the qualification of ten female entrepreneurs and participants from the cooperatives to participate in the international fair, Horeca, which will take place in Beirut in 2013.
For his part, Minister Al-Hajj Hassan indicated that the ministry of agriculture aspires to ensure the continuation of the NOWARA competition by providing funding for the prizes from the budget of the ministry of agriculture so as to ensure this project’s viability and autonomy from relying on donor agencies. He added that efforts will be exerted with the aim of turning the NOWARA into an established institution with a clear administrative structure, and adequate budget and personnel. It is worth mentioning that funding of the NOWARA prizes for 2010 and 2011 was made through a foreign funded project aiming at supporting olive and olive-oil producers in marginalized areas of Lebanon. The project was funded by the Italian government and is implemented by the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute in Bari.

Source: Annahar, Mustaqbal

The Ministry of Agriculture organized, in collaboration with the FAO, an event at the UNESCO to celebrate the World Food Day.  The slogan of the event was "Rural Cooperatives Feed the World" and sought to highlight the important role that rural cooperatives play in developing and strengthening the agricultural sector.  The event was held under the auspices of the President of the Republic, General Michel Suleiman who noted that the contribution of agriculture to the GDP has increased from 5% to 6.5% this year indicating that "farmers now need to resort to cooperatives so that they can secure markets especially in the era of globalisation".

The Minister of Agriculture, Hussein Hage Hassan, highlighted the continuous support that the government extends to the agricultural sector and which resulted in "a radical and structural development through the national strategy that was recently developed".   The Minister added that the Cabinet is about to modernise and issue a number of new laws and decrees that would develop the structure and capacity f the Ministry of Agriculture and will increase its budget from 41 billion LBP in 2009 to 102 billion LBP in 2013.  He also added that the total budget allocated to the agricultural sector will increase from 120 billion LBP to 320 billion LBP in addition to the launching of a number of new programmes in partnership with regional organisations and covered by grants and loans secured during the past year and which in total amounted to approximately 103 million dollars.

Hage Hassan further reiterated that "the Ministry has made leaps in working towards the objectives set in its strategy and which revolve around increasing the contribution of agriculture in the GDP, in providing employment opportunities especially for women and youth, increasing food security especially for strategic products while increasing food safety and finally decreasing the deficit in the agricultural and food trade balances.

Participants in the event also discussed the challenges in the work of agricultural cooperatives in Lebanon as the Minister revealed that he has scrapped some 400 non-operational cooperatives out of a total of 1300 licensed cooperatives.  He also added that the Ministry has developed a national strategy to support cooperative work and to convince local farmers that they can gain from engaging in cooperatives.  He added that the Ministry will secure incentives amounting to 3 billion LBP which will benefit some150 cooperatives across Lebanon.  Finally, Hage Hassan concluded by adding that "despite the fact that international organizations have invested significant amounts of money to support cooperative work, there is still a problem in operating and managing the heavy equipments which they acquired hence the intervention of the Ministry in organising workshops to address the situation and strengthen the understanding and culture of cooperative work amongst farmers.

Source: As Safir, An Nahar and Al Mustaqbal