Women harvest onions in the Bekaa Valley. (Credit: João Sousa/L’Orient Today)
BEIRUT —Agriculture Minister Abbas Haj Hassan told L’Orient Today on Thursday, in his second day of his visit to Jordan, that he has agreed on a cooperation deal with his Jordanian counterpart that includes the removal of a limit on the quantity of agricultural products that Jordan can import from Lebanon, among other points.
Here’s what we know:
• Hassan told L’Orient Today that he has agreed with Jordan's Ministry of Agriculture to lift the country’s annual limit on imported agricultural products from Lebanon, which would potentially enable Lebanon to increase its agricultural exports to Jordan. Lebanon exports apples, bananas, grapes, sugar-apples and avocados to Jordan; while it imports melons, tomatoes, peppers and dates, the agriculture minister said.
• He added that the Jordanians have also agreed to accept agricultural products in lieu of cash from Lebanon in return for agricultural exports that Lebanon imports from Jordan, in light of Lebanon’s unprecedented economic crisis.
• Hassan said that he and his Jordanian counterpart have also reached a solution on an issue that had arisen between the two countries two years ago regarding the quality of Lebanese potatoes and that the Jordanians had agreed to buy a portion of this year’s crop.
• The agricultural minister declined to link the deal to the Saudi ban on Lebanese agricultural imports that has been in place since April after Saudis claimed that a large quantity of drugs were being smuggled into the kingdom in shipments from Lebanon.
• Following the Saudi ban, Lebanese farmers told L’Orient Today that they had been left with surplus product on their hands. Hassan said that the issue is yet to be solved.