Several unions of agricultural producers from Bekaa met in Zahleh on Saturday to ask the government not to authorize the import of potatoes from abroad before Feb. 1, 2025, to promote the sale of national production, according to Ibrahim Tarchishi, president of Bekaa farmers union.

"This ban is in line with the agreement that has existed for years between Lebanon and Egypt, and any deviation from this ban is considered an attack on all farmers in the Bekaa," insisted the union president.

He also said that farmers in this region, which has been badly affected by the clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, will prevent these imports by all means and methods permitted by law. He specified that 30,000 tons were stored in local refrigerators and warehouses, a "huge" quantity that could not be sold before Feb. 1. The union president told L'Orient-Le Jour that he had heard that the ministry planned to issue permits to certain importers,

Lebanon and Egypt are linked by an agreement signed in 1998 and maintained, even though both countries are signatories to the Arab Free Trade Agreement (Gafta). This agreement imposes an agricultural calendar, which means in practice that Egypt cannot export certain products such as potatoes to Lebanon at certain times of the year so as not to compete with local production, and vice versa. Frictions between farmers and the authorities over the import calendar are not uncommon.