Back to the land: Lebanese family turns to farming to survive crises

By Maya Gebeily and Aziz Taher

HOULA, Lebanon (Reuters) – In a distant village in southern Lebanon, Qassem Shreim crouched low to look at his wheat crop. Meals prices have soared amid a world wheat disaster and Lebanon’s personal financial meltdown, however the builder-turned-farmer feels shielded by his self-sufficiency.

Like many households in crisis-plagued Lebanon, Shreim turned to farming after the native pound started to slide in 2019, making his building work scarce and his grocery runs ever extra expensive.

“We could not work, so what did we do? We turned to agriculture,” the 42-year-old advised Reuters in his house village of Houla, close to the border with Israel.

Meals costs have jumped 11-fold since Lebanon’s disaster started, the World Meals Programme says. Lebanese authorities have incrementally elevated an official value cap on loaves of the staple pita bread and fears of a wheat scarcity have grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine derailed grain shipments.

That disaster feels worlds away in Shreim’s humble house, the place slices of melon picked from their backyard glisten within the afternoon solar and the kitchen is stocked with flatbread baked by his spouse, Khadija, utilizing wheat from their land.

Their entrance patio and hallway have been become a makeshift store, the place wood stalls made by Khadija bear fats watermelons and jars of freshly-pressed grapeleaves.

“Self-suffiency begins at house. I used to purchase all the pieces from the outlets. Right now all of the greens I want can be found right here,” mentioned Shreim.

NO GOING BACK

During the last three years, his household has planted all the pieces from wheat and lentils to tiny eggplants and curled inexperienced chili peppers.

The plots are at a decrease altitude, the place water is extra plentiful, and often rotated to replenish vitamins within the soil whereas maximizing the variety of harvests.

However Shreim wasn’t born with inexperienced fingers: he discovered find out how to arrange greenhouses by watching YouTube movies and has gathered suggestions and tips from different farmers.

Khadija, 39, has additionally relied on know-how to run the store.

She sends each day grocery costs each morning to the ladies of al-Houla by means of a WhatsApp messenger group by 9 am, and so they message again with their requests.

“They name me the mayor of the village right here, I do know everybody,” mentioned Khadija.

For her, sustainability goes past farming. She encourages prospects to come back with their very own cloth baggage to reduce use of plastic baggage and researches preserving strategies on YouTube.

“Because the disaster worsens, I invent new issues. For instance, I turned what I had remaining from the small eggplants into jam. You would not imagine it – folks would inform me ‘what do you imply by eggplant jam?’ I could not sustain with orders,” she mentioned.

Nonetheless, Shreim’s operation isn’t totally untouched by Lebanon’s disaster.

Their house will get one hour of state-provided electrical energy daily and one other 4 hours from a non-public generator, which limits how a lot water they will pump into their gardens.

Rains have been plentiful final winter however Shreim fears a drier winter this time round may wreak havoc on subsequent yr’s crops.

They’ve reduce on nutritional vitamins and a few pesticides for value causes. Earlier than the disaster, farmers typically trucked their produce to Beirut, the place they may promote at larger costs.

“Right now, it is completely different – if I wish to take merchandise right down to Beirut’s wholesale marketplace for fruit and veggies, and assuming the automotive does not break down, the price of gas could be what I earn in a complete season,” Shreim mentioned.

The tractor he makes use of to plough his fields runs on diesel and he counts “each second” that he runs it.

However Shreim shrugged off such worries.

“I will not return to my previous job… I wish to proceed. Farming has a future,” he mentioned.

(Further reporting by Maya Saad; Modifying by Gareth Jones)