Hani: Toward Contract Farming Linking Lebanese Production to UAE and Gulf Markets

Minister of Agriculture Nizar Hani, in an agricultural and developmental visit, toured the Chouf region, following up on meetings held during the Lebanese-UAE forum, as part of the Ministry of Agriculture’s efforts to transform cooperation and investment opportunities into tangible partnerships linking Lebanese agricultural production to UAE and Gulf markets.

The tour served as a practical step from the communication and opportunity presentation phase to direct exploration of market needs, production capabilities, and marketing potential, opening new horizons for farmers, cooperatives, and Lebanese agricultural products.

Hani began his tour in the village of Briej, where he met with the mayor, municipal council members, several farmers, and local stakeholders, accompanied by Halawi. The discussion focused on the current state of the agricultural sector in the region, ways to develop production, enhance competitiveness, and access new markets. Subsequently, he visited and inspected the model farm of farmer Majid Al-Ally, gaining insight into an advanced fruit tree cultivation system—particularly apples—using modern varieties, intensive farming techniques, and innovative agricultural management practices.

According to data presented during the visit, these technologies can increase yield per dunam from about two tons in some traditional farming methods to between 8 and 12 tons, and even reach nearly 13 tons in certain cases, reflecting the significant potential available to improve farmers’ economic returns when appropriate varieties, modern agricultural practices, and scientific orchard management are adopted.

Hani emphasized that this experience underscores the importance of agricultural training, advisory services, knowledge transfer, and technology dissemination to farmers, and the gradual shift from traditional farming models to modern systems based on precise tree needs management, improved resource efficiency, enhanced productivity and quality, while meeting market and consumer requirements.

Hani then moved to the Mountain Market, where a working session was held to discuss developing contract farming and mechanisms linking farmers and cooperatives directly to markets. The session included the president of the Chouf Municipalities Union, engineer Kamil Al-Ghassani, representatives from cooperatives, and various agricultural and production sectors in the region. The discussion centered on the need to transition from production not sufficiently tied to market demand to planned production based on targeted market needs—by pre-defining varieties, quantities, specifications, and quality standards—and establishing clear, sustainable relationships between producers and buyers.

It was also stressed that developing this model would help reduce marketing risks and waste, improve agricultural planning, lower production costs, boost productivity and quality, and strengthen the ability of Lebanese products to compete and penetrate UAE, Gulf, and global markets.

Hani affirmed that the tour is part of translating outcomes from the Lebanese-UAE forum into concrete actions and direct collaboration among farmers, cooperatives, the private sector, investors, and markets, emphasizing that the ministry will continue monitoring this path regularly and intensively to build scalable models across different regions of Lebanon. He highlighted the importance of advancing contract farming and strengthening the role of the Mountain Market as a model platform for organizing and marketing Chouf’s produce, connecting producers directly with domestic and international buyers, thereby increasing the added value of agricultural output and boosting the rural economy.

He stressed that "The future of Lebanese agriculture begins with innovation, modern training, and advisory services, with increased productivity and quality, and direct linkage between farmers and the market. Our goal is not for farmers to produce first and then search for a market, but to know in advance what the market needs, in what quantity, and with which specifications and quality, and to build their production accordingly—thereby increasing returns and ensuring sustainability of output."

The tour is part of the Ministry of Agriculture’s broader strategy to build a more productive and competitive sector based on modern farming, advisory services and technology transfer, contract farming, public-private partnerships, and opening foreign markets to Lebanese products—transforming Lebanon’s agricultural assets into sustainable economic and investment opportunities.