$120 million for growing fodder

Government adopts five-year plan for supporting cultivation of fodder

The government has approved a $120 million plan to develop the cultivation of fodder. The Minister of Finance, Mohamad Safadi, and the Minister of Agriculture, Hussein Hajj Hassan, unveiled the five-year subsidy plan on March 7.

The funds needed for the five-year plan will be provided through installments included in the annual provisions allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

The 2012 budget draft will include an additional allocation of $18.9 million to fund the plan. “The Ministry of Finance has also increased the 2012 budget allocation to the MoA to $66 million,” said Safadi. He said that the additional support coincided with the $33 million allocated to IDAL’s program for supporting agricultural exports (Agri-Plus).

Hajj Hassan said that the plan aims to develop the cultivation and production of animal fodder and thus improve the cattle raising sector. This, he said, would help improve farmers' milk production capacities in terms of production costs, quality, and quantity. Hajj Hassan said that Lebanon’s yearly imports of dairy products total around $200 million.
According to the MoA estimates, there are around 40,000 milking cows in the country, of which 34,000 are owned by individual farmers.



by Hanadi Chami