EU support to agriculture and rural development in Lebanon

The Ministry of Agriculture organized last Tuesday, in collaboration with CIHEAM, a seminar on Lebanon’s experience in implementing the first stage of the ENPARD programme, which extended between December 2013 to October 2014.  The event was held under the auspices of the Minister of Agriculture, Akram Chehayeb and with the participation of the ENPARD president Jean-Paul Pellissier, who expressed his appreciation of this experience and clarified that the programme operates through three key stages.  The first stage consists of designing agricultural and rural policies which meet aspirations whilst the second stage deals with the implementation of these policies through technical programmes.  The third stage entails the exchange of experiences and success stories at the international level.  Based on this, Pellissier identified three topics which will kick off the second stage namely agricultural extension, accessing new markets, and better understanding the field through statistics and studies.
In a similar vein, the steering committee of the agricultural and rural development project held last Monday its annual meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture.  The meeting was presided by the Minister of Agriculture, and was attended by the EU Ambassador to Lebanon, Angelina Eichhorst.  Chehayeb noted that the last three years were very important in building the capacities of his Ministry to enable it to play its leading role to develop, guide and support the agricultural sector.  He added that, currently, work is focusing on supporting farmers and their cooperative organizations in addition to encouraging investment in the land and return to agricultural production.  Eichhorst for her part spoke about the progress made since the start of the programme.  She highlighted one of these achievements namely the Euros 6.8 million channeled through Kafalat and which targeted Lebanese farmers.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 14 October, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 15 October, 2014