Two years after the first meeting with the board of the Lebanese organization LOST, HollandDoor has started to work with a team of specialists to strengthen the capacity on dairy farming practices in Lebanon.
Deeply affected by the current instability in the Middle East, Lebanon is facing an unprecedented downward economic spiral, one which began in 2019. During this time, it has fallen from a middle-high income country to a low-middle income country, according to World Bank standards. Many young people are looking for prospects and job opportunities, which could still be realized through the region’s still underdeveloped agricultural sector.
Despite having the highest proportion of arable land in the Arab world, Lebanon’s own agricultural sector has been underdeveloped for many years, hampered by a lack of modern equipment and inefficient production techniques and market mechanisms.
The Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST) is a non-profit organization founded in 1998 and very active in Lebanon. It focuses on developing the underdeveloped communities in the regions around Baalbek-Hermel and north Bekaa. LOST has been involved for many years in several successful projects in different disciplines, involving youth, women, and community developments.
LOST is currently developing an agriculture hub/academy, including a school building, an agro-industry incubator, and partnerships with local farmers. Recognizing the need to expand this ‘ecosystem’, LOST’s main wish was to transfer knowledge from the Netherlands to their staff who are mentoring and training farmers in the area.
With the support of Nuffic and the Embassy, HollandDoor has been granted a programme to strengthen the capacity of LOST staff, Ministry of Agriculture extension officers and vocational schools, who are the ‘front line’ in improving livelihoods in the dairy sector. In recent weeks, we started with an inception, which was done online due to travel restrictions. However, with the inexhaustible video support of the Lost team, we have been able to visit, see, and interview several farmers, the operational team of a processing plant, meet stakeholders along the value chain, as well as around 30 potential Master Trainers. In the coming period, we will start setting up practical training courses and a train-the-trainer program in the field of dairy farm management and value chain management.
LOST and HollandDoor both see this as the first step in a long term partnership
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