National Authority
for the Litani River
National Authority for the Litani River

Searching for food security in light of water pollution and erosion of agricultural lands

Wednesday 12 June 2019

The National Authority of the Litani River asked all partners to enforce and respect Decree No. 14522 issued on May 16, 1970, which regulated the distribution of the Litani River water and other available waters from various water sources between the Beirut-Damascus road and between the Anjar-Shamsine springs and the groundwater in the northern Terbel area. This road is in the central Bekaa for irrigation purposes.

She also stressed the need to take into account the decisions of the Supreme Council for Urban Planning in terms of classification pertaining to the areas served by irrigation projects, and to apply the purpose in terms of their use after they have been classified according to the comprehensive plan for arranging lands in Lebanon, as the lands targeted by current and future irrigation projects are in constant erosion as a result Urban chaos and the absence of organizational and legal standards for licensing, and in some cases building without a permit, especially after the buildings were licensed by the municipalities without referring to the civil planning offices in the districts, which turns agricultural lands, which spend millions of dollars to irrigate them, into urban and urban lands, which causes Waste of public money and waste of the national plan for comprehensive and balanced development, and the phenomenon of changing the classification of agricultural lands, the absence of protecting fertile land, not allocating it for agriculture and allowing it to be sorted into small plots and used for construction, which led to the loss of hundreds of hectares of good agricultural land used for construction and parking lots as a result of irrigation projects affiliated with the Authority. Extension of urbanization, especially in the coastal region. Note that this loss is constantly increasing and has begun to spread to new areas in southern Lebanon.

And she emphasized that the requirements of food security necessitate taking into account the directive plan for the districts of Zahle, Western Bekaa and Rashaya, according to the decision of the Supreme Council for Urban Planning No. 22/2019 dated 12/6/2019 and the decision of the Supreme Council for Urban Planning No. 28/2013 in terms of classification related to the areas served by irrigation projects and the protection of agricultural lands. And to confirm its classification according to this purpose, and the Ministry of Environment deposited the details related to the southern Bekaa irrigation project and the irrigated lands from the irrigation project at the level of 800 in Qalia, so that the agricultural lands included in it in the master plan project are protected.

The national interest of the Litani River was to take into account the protection of agricultural lands according to letters addressed to the civil organization and the relevant ministries and departments in a way that includes the agricultural lands served by its rent projects in the governorates of the Bekaa, South Lebanon and the Bekaa.

Believing in the importance of supporting the agricultural sector and ensuring a minimum level of food security, the National Authority of the Litani River took the initiative since 2019 to adopt a policy of investing all its agricultural lands in the south and the Bekaa Valley. In a first step, the authority took the initiative to plant the affiliated lands with grains, vegetables and fruit trees in the year 2019, and given the difficult living conditions that farmers are going through, the authority took the initiative to lease specific areas of agricultural land to enable them to improve their economic and living conditions.

It also created sites for agricultural experiments in the Ras Al-Ain area near the Ras Al-Ain pools, in Al-Khardali on the banks of the Litani River, in Al-Qasimia on the banks of the Litani River, and in Al-Zahrani in the expropriation of the interest near the new building to serve the subscribers and improve monitoring, control and distribution in the Qasimia irrigation project.

The total cultivated land of the Litani River National Authority has so far reached 1,447,904 square meters (one million four hundred and forty-seven thousand nine hundred and four square metres):
Real estate cultivated by the Litani River National Authority: Its total area is 381,781 square meters, three hundred and eighty-one thousand, seven hundred and eighty-one square meters.
The real estate that was included for farmers (within the scope of Bar Elias, Kafr Zabad): Its total area is 129,072 square meters, one hundred and twenty-nine thousand and seventy-two square meters.
The real estate that was rented by public auction to farmers (in the vicinity of Khirbet Qanafar, Jib Jenin, Lala): Its total area is 937,051 square meters, nine hundred and thirty-seven thousand and fifty-one square meters.
The crops were diversified as the following were planted: soft and durum wheat, olives, table grapes, pears, apples, peaches, nectarines, cherries, pomegranates, almonds, walnuts, apricots, quinces, plums, carobs, citrus fruits, cream, echidna, Avocado, beans.

Providing in-kind donations from the production of the agricultural fields of the National Authority of the Litani River Within the framework of the social responsibility of public sector institutions, the investment of agricultural lands and food security, the National Authority of the Litani River provided an in-kind donation of the production of its agricultural fields to all the General Directorate of Internal Security Forces, the Lebanese army, municipalities and civil associations, in addition to Providing an in-kind donation of the entire production of olive oil for the agricultural experiment fields of the Litani River National Authority in Lebaa and the rain-fed fields at the bottom of the Qaraoun Dam and in the expropriated lands of the Litani River National Authority, which are of the type of virgin oil (first class)