Infographic summarizing the agriculture minister's report. (Credit: Agriculture Ministry's team)
The Lebanese Agriculture Ministry has released an updated report on the ongoing development projects it manages, as part of a multi-part summary published since Christmas, focusing on the mandate of Minister Nizar Hani, which began at the start of the year in the government of Nawaf Salam.
According to the report, the Ministry oversees 44 projects totaling $320 million.
Of this sum, $200 million has been allocated to the Green Agri-Food Transformation for Economic Recovery Project (GATE), which is funded by a World Bank (WB) loan and was approved by the Lebanese Parliament last July.
"The development objective of the Green Agri-Food project for Lebanon is to improve the resilience of Lebanese farmers as well as small and medium enterprises [SMEs] in the agri-food sector," according to the description published on the WB website.
The first component, titled climate-smart investments in agri-food value chains, aims to expand access to financing to strengthen farmers' resilience and improve their competitiveness.
The 43 other projects represent $120 million spread across areas such as food security and livelihoods (8 projects), food chains and small businesses (7 projects), water and irrigation (6 projects), climate and environment (6 projects), livestock and fisheries (3 projects), and policies, strategies and information (4 projects).
"These projects are implemented with a broad network of partners and executors, including United Nations organizations, ministries and public administrations, international organizations and local associations, as well as universities, research centers and the private sector, with funding from numerous international donors," the Ministry said.
