Lebanon: Lebanon is striving to confront the challenges arising from losses sustained by agricultural land, orchards, facilities and equipment in the south as a result of Israeli offensives, which have led to a decline in agricultural production, adversely affecting food security and causing higher prices for agricultural products.
According to Qatar News Agency, the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture is working to support the agricultural sector and bolster its ability to restore production, amid the need to reclaim damaged land and facilities and provide farmers with production inputs, thereby helping to mitigate the consequences of the damage sustained by the agricultural sector.
Lebanese Minister of Agriculture Dr. Nizar Hani spoke about the ministry's efforts to strengthen the agricultural sector and safeguard national food security amid the extensive damage sustained by agricultural land, orchards, facilities and equipment as a result of Israeli attacks. He stressed that the fallout from the war isn't confined to direct material damage, but extends to production, income, agricultural value chains and farmers' ability to access their land.
Dr. Hani explained that assessing agricultural damage requires distinguishing between two different time periods and methodologies: the first extends from the October 2023 war through January 2024, while the second covers the Israeli onslaught and escalation during 2026, given the differences in the nature and scale of the damage and the methods used to calculate it at each stage.
He revealed that the assessment conducted by the Ministry in lockstep with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for the 2023-2024 war shows that the sector sustained USD 118 million in material damage and USD 586 million in production losses, with recovery needs estimated at USD 263 million, including USD 95 million prioritized for 2025 and 2026, noting that the 2026 figures reflect a new wave of damage.
The ministry therefore treats them as an independent and renewed assessment, rather than a simple recalculation of the 2024 assessment, Dr. Hani said. He added that the Ministry's latest reports indicate that almost 56,264 hectares of agricultural land in areas affected by the attacks have been impacted, spread across approximately 285 towns in the south, Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel.
Of that area, about 18,559 hectares sustained direct damage, representing roughly one-third of the affected area and about 22.5% of the agricultural land within the areas affected by the conflict, Hani highlighted. Dr. Hani further revealed that a survey covering 15,025 farmers in the affected areas showed that 76.6% of them had been displaced, describing this indicator as deeply worrisome, because agricultural displacement doesn't merely mean the relocation of residents; it also implies the loss of agricultural labor and expertise from the production cycle and the disruption of farming seasons.
He outlined that, with regard to food security, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification showed that about 1.24 million people in Lebanon faced elevated levels of acute food insecurity, reaching Phase 3 or higher, between April and August 2026. Dr. Hani said the ministry is pursuing a rigorous, phased technical approach because returning farmers to damaged land can't be accomplished simply by distributing financial assistance.
Rather, the process consists of several stages, including surveying and documenting the damage, ensuring safe access, testing soil and water quality, classifying land and rebuilding productive capacity, he pointed out. He revealed that the ministry has also launched the National Framework for Monitoring Agricultural Soil with the objective of standardizing sampling and analysis procedures, interpreting results and building a reliable national database.
Regarding support for farmers, Dr. Hani said the scale of the losses exceeds the capacity of the Ministry's budget alone, stressing that comprehensive compensation requires a government decision, financial appropriations, a legal and transparent mechanism, and a unified database that prevents duplication and ensures that support reaches those actually affected.
He stressed that the Ministry is the national authority responsible for setting priorities and standards and identifying beneficiaries, while international partners contribute funding, technical know-how and implementation under a national plan. The cooperation in particular includes the FAO, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, the European Union, governments and donors, including Italy, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands and others, as well as the National Council for Scientific Research, universities, unions and cooperatives, Dr. Hani said.
The Lebanese Minister underlined that Lebanon can reduce its reliance on imports, but can't eliminate it entirely, as the country lacks the land area and water resources required to achieve self-sufficiency in all commodities, particularly grains, oils and animal feed. However, it can increase the share of domestic production of commodities in which Lebanon has a productive or seasonal advantage, he said.
Regarding environmental risks to soil and water resulting from Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Dr. Hani noted that the environmental risks aren't the same at every site and that no land can be declared contaminated or suitable for agriculture without laboratory analysis. Among the foremost potential risks are remnants of munitions, explosives and shrapnel; the accumulation of certain metals and chemical elements at targeted sites; changes in soil properties resulting from intense heat and fires; the loss of organic matter and microorganisms; and soil erosion following the burning of vegetation, he noted.
Dr. Hani said previous environmental findings showed that there were hotspots where phosphorus concentrations rose to levels reaching about 1,858 parts per million in some samples. He explained that this figure doesn't mean that all land in southern Lebanon is contaminated at the same level, as it is a finding associated with specific samples and sites and must be interpreted in light of the characteristics and natural background of each soil.
Dr. Hani further emphasized that the figures reveal that the greatest losses aren't confined to assets alone, but also include production, income and disruptions to agricultural value chains. In the latest interim assessment, production losses reached USD 530.5 million, compared with USD 41.2 million in direct damage. This underscores that rehabilitation must not stop at restoring fields, but must rebuild the agricultural economy as a whole, he said.
Lastly, he pointed out that protecting agriculture means protecting the land, farmers, the rural economy and national food security. Dr. Hani asserted that the critical priority today is to return farmers safely to their land, restore their productive capacity and turn recovery into a long-term strategy toward agriculture that is more productive, sustainable and capable of confronting wars and climate change.