The Ministry of Finance is backing a support project to underdeveloped villages through its Régie Libanaise des Tabacs et Tombacs (Régie) department.
The Régie is the State-owned tobacco monopoly. It aimed at launching development projects for the villages that are active in tobacco cultivation. 

The Régie will make grants of around $30,000 for each village. The funds will be used in development projects such as lakes, irrigation systems, and new roads. 

Abdel Mawla El Mawla, Manager of the Leaf Department at the Régie said: “It is a long term plan to support the villages and launch projects needed that are not related to tobacco cultivation.”

He said that villages could contribute a share in funding the projects, and can also help in construction works.

El Mawla said that nine villages will benefit from this project in the first phase. It will be implemented in three months starting September.

The grants will be distributed to several villages in the North, Bekaa, and the South. A center for agricultural training will be established in Tal Meyan in the North, to aid farmers technically in several cultivations. An artificial lake will be constructed in Tal Bira to collect raining water, where farmers will be provided with water for irrigation in lower prices.

In Bekaa, an artificial lake will be established in Bouday. In Deir El Ahmar, the Régie will be working with the municipalities to purchase and spread an irrigation network to increase irrigation coverage in this region.

In the Bustan village in the South, new roads will be prepared to be able to reach new farm lands. In Srifa, Houla, and Meis Al Jabal, an artificial lake will be established to benefit from it during drought periods.