“Horrible disaster”: Lebanese farmers denounce Saudi Arabia ban Agriculture News

Beirut, Lebanon – As they face the economic crisis that is already ruining the country, Lebanese farmers fear that a ban on the recent production of Saudi Arabia will be crucial to their livelihoods.

Saudi Arabia reported on Friday indefinite prohibition Against Lebanese agricultural products, 5.3 million pills hidden in a grenade depot in the port of Jeddah were attempted to smuggle illegal amphetamine captures.

Captagon is manufactured in Lebanon, Jordan and perhaps Syria and Iraq, mainly for consumption in Saudi Arabia, according to (PDF) European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

“This is an unfair decision,” said Hassan Abbas of the Al Jazeera Agricultural Workers ’Union. “We were shocked by a country like Saudi Arabia that has given so much support to Lebanon in making such an urgent decision.”

Saudi Arabian Ambassador Waleed Bukhari he said in a tweet the kingdom found more than 57 million illegal pills since its inception in 2020 from funded Lebanon. Lebanon fears that other countries will follow Riyadh’s decision, which has been accepted by Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

A terrified Ibrahim Tarchichi, head of the Bekaa Farmers Association, said the farmers and the agricultural sector were in a “terrible catastrophe”. Much of Lebanon’s agricultural production is in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

“Everyone will give less and earn less,” he told Al Jazeera. “Lebanon in general is paying the price for the misfortunes of some criminals and other countries.”

According to various estimates, the Lebanese fruit and vegetable trade is worth between $ 20 million and $ 34 million annually.

Tarchichi said 40 trucks of 1,000 tons of the product were to be shipped to Saudi Arabia from the port of Beirut, but delivery was suspended after the ban was announced. On Wednesday, Tarchichi said that Saudi Arabia would make an exception and allow it to move forward.

Riyadh has not said it intends to repeal the ban on Lebanese products.

“We don’t have grenades”

Lebanon is experiencing a severe economic crisis, which has pushed more than half of the population into poverty and sent them into a tight currency.

Farmers sell the profit in Lebanese pounds, which has lost 85% of its value against the U.S. dollar, pushing the country to alarming inflation rates that are hindering farmers.

“We are working at a loss because the farmers are selling the products [Lebanese pound], but production and cultivation costs have gone up, “Abbas said.” If I sell a pound of tomatoes for 3,000 pounds, it used to cost $ 2 but is now worth about 25 cents. “

Agricultural inputs are bought in US dollars, pushing their prices and fuel costs to the skies.

Abbas and Tarchichi disagree on whether the ban on Saudi products was politically motivated. However, they both agree that Lebanese farmers are being unjustly punished for this.

“We all want to fight drug trafficking, but if someone does something wrong, you can’t punish all Lebanese farmers for that,” Abbas said.

Lebanese authorities, meanwhile, have been on high alert with President Michel Aoun urging security agencies to step up efforts to control border smuggling.

“We are confident that Saudi Arabia and all the Gulf countries are well aware that the ban on Lebanese products will not stop drug smuggling and [that] the partnership between us will help stop these networks, ”said caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diabe.

Tarchichi stressed that the grenade shipment associated with the Captagon was not even Lebanese, but Syrian.

“These are not Lebanese grenades, we don’t have grenades to export,” Tarchichi said.

Tarchichi said it was a Syrian shipment passing through Lebanon. “Evidence shows that this shipment came from Syria, the person who sent it and forged certificates and documents from Syria,” he said. “The investigation will reveal everything.”

‘Dealing with Drugs’

Interim Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi has said that Al Jazeera drug smuggling is a struggle that Lebanon cannot deal with on its own.

“Lebanon is tackling the drug scourge with the capabilities it has available, but like the rest of the world, it cannot completely stop smuggling operations,” he told Al Jazeera in a statement. “This is technically faced by advanced countries such as the United States, the European Union and others.”

Fahmi called for greater cross-border coordination to thwart smuggling operations. “There should be greater security coordination between states to control cross-border smuggling operations more accurately and effectively,” he added. “This trafficking of death harms everyone without discrimination.”

Lebanese security forces arrested three men linked to the Captagon dispatch on Tuesday near the southern city of Sidon. Two of the three men wanted, Wahm Kueidri, Hussein Harfoush and Hussein al-Mawli, were seriously injured in exchange for the shooting. They were names said passed in an exchange of intelligence between Beirut and Riyadh.

But despite these developments, farmers and agricultural workers fear that the ban could be imposed by other countries as well. The United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait have joined the Saudi Arabian movement, Arab News reported reported.

“We need to close these border gaps and restore our reputation as it was before,” Tarchichi said. “Back when the whole world loved to import our products.”

These concerns also extend to Lebanese working in other sectors. Rabih el-Amin, who heads the Riyadh-based Lebanese executive council, said he was concerned that a ban on the products could cause “significant damage to our reputation.”

“Farmers who have lost the key artery that connects them to foreign markets are directly affected,” El-Amin said, adding that Al-Jazeera’s economic and political ties that were once “historically strong” in Al Jazeera, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia could be further damaged.