Not only since the collapse of grain imports in the last months, but already for a long time the people in Lebanon have been stuck in an economic downward spiral. Mohamad Al Masri, who lives at one of arche noVa's project sites, also knows how difficult it is to secure one's livelihood in the face of a dilapidated infrastructure and high inflation. The young man comes from a family that has been farming as its main source of income for generations. From his grandfather, the 24-year-old inherited a plot of land in Borj Al Arab, in the district of Akkar. What he earns there he shares with the family. Ten people, including his parents and brothers, receive support from Mohamad Al Masri.
Day after day, the young man struggles to secure their livelihoods while the prices of agricultural inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers, most of which are imports, continue to rise. Diesel and gasoline have become particularly expensive. As a result, Mohamad Al Masri often has no choice but to sell his seasonal produce at a loss on the local market.
Ruinous costs and bad roads
It is more than difficult for the goods to reach the customers at all. For years, the young farmer and his neighbors have complained about the poor condition of the local roads, which make cultivating the fields a challenge.
We used to rent smaller trucks to be able to access the land while unloading the harvest to another bigger truck manually, resulting in more costs of labor and extensive time to prepare the produces for sale.
Great relief thanks to new road
In order to support the farmers but also Syrian seasonal workers who have fled to this region, arche noVa has repaired an agricultural road in Borj el Arab in cooperation with the local organization Mada this year. Thus, about 25 farmers can reach their fields more easily and transport their products to the market better. In the meantime, the road is also used by many other residents of the area as a main route to key locations, including as a route to school.
During the road reconstruction, a section of canal was also restored. It serves to irrigate adjacent fields but also to drain the road after precipitation. The pipeline, which lies under the road surface at one point, was so dilapidated that farmers could not drive their vehicles over it. For Mohamad Al Masri, it was almost impossible to reach his land.
A neglected access was obstructed by a damaged pipeline culvert that is now fully rehabilitated under this project; it used to take us a lot more time to reach the land through the alternative roads. Even the safety of the pedestrian is granted through this channel.
