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McKinsey Plan for Lebanon: endorse agriculture, legalize cannabis
24-9-2018
The president of the Lebanese Exhibitions & Conferences Association, Elie Rizk, said that the support to the local agriculture sector proposed by the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company Plan for Lebanon’s economy, is a valid, objective and feasible demand if the recommended package of reforms is implemented. These involve first: Reduce the cost of production through benefiting from international organizations, grants and funds to finance raw material; second, improve the quality of prodution through training farmers to develop and enhance their products, and lastly, dispose of produce through skilled production companies that sort, package and market the produce. An Nahar referred to legalizing the cultivation of cannabis indorsed by McKinsey to prop up the general budget and alleviate the fiscal deficit. It cited the trade minister, Raed Khoury, who praised the good quality of marijuana planted in Lebanon which could be used in processing the high in demand and expensive cannabis oil. The newspaper, on the other hand, wrote that Hizbullah seeks to avoid publicly backing the legalization of the crop in an area that is considered one of its main strongholds, claiming that the party’s repute in the past few years involving the manufacture and trafficking in drugs, does not seem to be assuring. The newspaper concluded by wondering if the anticipated legalization will serve the country’s budget or Hizbullah. On the farmers’ front, and on behalf of the heads of agricultural coops, mayors and the committee for the follow up of support to the olive oil in Marjeyoon and Hasbaya, the chief of the Union of Municipalities of Hasbani asked the Prime Minister and House Speaker to subsidize olive oil by pricing each container at USD 50 as agreed in the budget of 2017. Regarding the developments on the Nassib Crossing, the director general of the General Security, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim set off an initiative last weekend to reopen the border crossing. He disclosed during a meeting on Saturday with Lebanese agricultural unions and exporters that the talks he held with Jordan’s King on the one hand, and the Syrian authorities on the other, could ease the border impasse. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, An Nahar, September, 20, 22, 24, 2018)
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- العربية
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Collective for Research and Training on Development - Action (CRTD.A)