Agriculture Infrastructure Development Project

The most recently completed IFAD-funded project in Lebanon, it significantly increased the incomes of participating farmers and reinforced environmental conservation efforts in the provinces of North Lebanon, Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon, Bekaa and Nabatiyeh.

The project addressed the issues of land unsuitability and the isolation of villages. On average there has been a 30 per cent increase in the annual household incomes of small farmers. The project supported construction of about 114 km of rural roads for a total of 40 roads, improving rural people’s access to markets and services, cutting their transportation costs and encouraging increased production on their lands. It also helped upgrade the institutional capabilities of the country’s Green Plan by introducing economic and environmental criteria for the systematic screening of all agricultural road construction and for land and water development.

The project attained its main impact through the planting of fruit trees in hilly fallow lands. Retaining walls and terraces were built to benefit about 3,400 mainly poor farmers, helping them develop perennial fruit plantations, and to reduce soil and water erosion. The trees produce high-return crops, with a sustainable increase in income for farmers.

Source: IFAD