The kiwi alternative

The agricultural picture in the Baalbeck-Hermal is now threatening of disaster if a quick and long term policy is not approved and applied immediately.

	At my Kiwi farm in Baalbeck

The basic need is to offer farmers alternatives to drug plantations, especially after the failure of the United Nations and donor countries to fulfill their pledge in this regard.

Another equally important need is to protect farmers from allowing importers to dump the market with competitive products, especially when the farmers are about to sell their own products.

Yet, as it has been proven futile to expect solutions from the government and donor countries, farmers should not become lame ducks hopelessly waiting for miracles to come their way. Instead they should look into agricultural alternatives other than the traditional plantations, which have become a burden rather than a solution in view of the erroneous and shortsighted agricultural policy the government has been adopting.

After pondering the matter for some time, I opted to exercise with the kiwi fruit as an alternative method. And after six years of hard work, I found out that kiwi fruit could be the right option.

The living proof to that is a kiwi fruit farm I started six years ago over an area of 150,000 square meters (150 Dunms). This enterprise is now doing quite well, and I have no problem selling  the produce in Lebanon at an excellent profit margin. I am even considering the possibility of planting more land to cope with a growing demand from the gulf countries.

To help my fellow Lebanese adopt this alternative, I place my knowledge and means at the disposal of interested farmers, pledging that I will do all what is possible to help them get started.