BEIRUT, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing tensions between Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel along the southern Lebanese border have enveloped life in uncertainty, with the constant threat posed by the exchange of fire between the two sides.
Despite the dangers, Lebanese farmers find themselves compelled to venture into their fields as the wheat begins to ripe, because the harvest is their primary source of income.
"Wheat here is equivalent to the soul," said Majed Abdallah, a farmer in the village of khiam in southeastern Lebanon. He said that he had submitted a request for protection from the Lebanese governmental forces during the harvest, but had received no help.
The wheat harvest season in Lebanon usually begins in June. However, local farmers have to begin harvesting earlier this year due to concerns about potential fires from Israeli bombings.
Ahmed Al-Mohammad, a 50-year-old farmer from Al-Wazzani village in southern Lebanon, highlighted the shift to automatic harvesters amid the ongoing tensions.
"We used to harvest wheat with sickles to save money, but the prevailing military conditions forced us to turn to automatic harvesters to expedite our work, albeit at a higher cost," said Al-Mohammad.
Saud Al-Zahran, another wheat farmer in the southern Lebanese village of Wadi khansa, noted a significant decrease in wheat cultivation in the border region this season, adding that while he typically cultivated about 1,000 dunums (1 dumum= 1,000 square meters) of wheat annually, he scaled back to only 100 dunums this year due to the persistent conflict as well as the lack of labor.
Ibrahim Tarshishi, head of the farmers' association in Lebanon's Bekaa, highlighted the impact of the ongoing confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel on wheat production. According to him, while the border area typically yields 10,000 tons of wheat annually, this year's production is estimated to plummet to 2,000 tons.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets towards Israel to show its solidarity with Hamas's attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery towards southeastern Lebanon.
To mitigate production losses caused by the conflict, Lebanese Agriculture Minister Abbas Hajj Hassan said his ministry had drafted plans to bolster wheat cultivation. As part of these plans, the ministry will distribute wheat seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, and financial aid to farmers across all regions. ■
