Agricultural support for expats returning from Syria

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Lebanon and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have launched a project titled: “Relieving the Suffering of Lebanese Returnees and Host Communities through the Recovery of Smallholder Agricultural Production.”

The Government of the Irish Republic funds the project, which will be implemented within seven months.

The project improves food production methods for 450 Lebanese families that have returned from Syria and are active in the agricultural sector. It will provide technical assistance and supervise the provision of food security packages. Packages are bio-secure small chicken coops, with ready-to-lay pullets and poultry feed, seeds and tool kits for vegetable production and improved kitchen utensils and storage containers to improve food preservation, packaging and storage.

According to IOM’s 2014 survey, 30 percent of expatriates who have returned from Syria used to depend on agriculture as their main source of income when they lived there. This program has been developed for them, now mostly located in the poorest areas of Akkar, Baalbeck, Hasbaya and Hermel.