by Dana Halawi, Huang Hongsheng
BEIRUT, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Hassan Chit, a 50-year-old Lebanese farmer, wailed to express his pain over the loss of his 20,000 square meters of persimmon and avocado orchards in Sarda plain in southern Lebanon due to the confrontations on the Lebanese-Israeli borders.
"The Israeli attacks have affected all the plains and agricultural orchards, from the Marjeyoun plain in the west to the Majidiya plain in the east," Chit said.
The affected land he mentioned covers about 20 square kilometers, supplying approximately 20 percent of the markets all over Lebanon with vegetables and fruits.
The Lebanon-Israel border witnessed increased tension since Oct. 8, 2023, after the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Israel in support of the Hamas attacks on Israel the previous day, prompting Israel to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.
The start of military confrontations coincided with the fruit harvest season, forcing farmers to flee border villages as their homes and farmlands were engulfed in flames due to Israeli bombings, said Chit.
Youssef Salama, a farmer in his 60s, emphasized the need for support and compensation for losses in the agriculture sector, which were crucial for the livelihoods of 30 percent of the population in border villages.
He said the border escalation had ruined most of the farmers' summer and winter crops, leaving their orchards strewn with shrapnel and phosphorus shells, and dashing any hope of resuming production soon.
Ghaith Maalouf, an agricultural engineer, also warned that the agricultural sector in Lebanon's southern border areas is on the verge of collapse as Israel's bombing caused severe environmental pollution to the soil.
"It takes two to three years to clean the soil from environmental pollution, and replanted trees require five to seven years to start production, which means that farmers lost about seven years of their lands' production," Maalouf said, adding it is difficult for farmers to make through such a period amid the country's ailing economy.
A study by the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture and Municipalities showed that more than 462 hectares of forest and farmland had been burned and an unknown number of trees destroyed by fire and pollution.
Lebanese Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan said the Israeli bombing had hit 53 towns and villages in southern Lebanon, damaging many agricultural tents, fodder warehouses, livestock and beehives.
He also said the field inspection committees could not finish their work because of the ongoing fighting, so the study only covered the damage in the first month of the conflict.
"The actual loss for Lebanon's agriculture sector could be much higher than estimated in the study," Hassan said, hoping for an end to the escalation and a return to normal life and production for the farmers. ■
