The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) feared that half of the Lebanese population would not reach their basic food needs by the end of this year. Revealing that the percentage of the poor in the population has doubled to reach 55% in 2020, after it was 28% in 2019, as well as the increase in the proportion of people suffering from extreme poverty three times from 8% to 23% during the same period.
According to a study prepared by ESCWA entitled "Is there a threat to food security in Lebanon?" The explosion of the Beirut port, the collapse of the Lebanese currency, the "pound", by 78 percent, the sharp rise in poverty and unemployment rates, and the closure measures taken to contain the Corona pandemic are all reasons that led to this conclusion.
According to the study, the depreciation of the lira led to significant price inflation, whose annual average is expected to exceed 50% in 2020 after it was 2.9% in 2019. ESCWA warned of the increase in the cost of agricultural production by more than 50% for various agricultural systems, which will limit local production in the near term and farmers will lose about 30% of their perishable products due to poor technical skills and lack of necessary infrastructure. Despite all of this, only 0.36% of the total government budget was allocated to agriculture in 2020.
Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
