Agticulture in Zgharta Zawieh

General survey

Lebanon, with a total area of 10 400 km², is situated east of the Mediterranean Sea and stretches about 210 km along the coast and 50 km inland. It is bordered by Syria in the north and east and by Israel in the south. Administratively it is divided into eight Mouhafazats or provinces.

Topographically, Lebanon can be divided from west to east into four parallel parts:

• a flat, narrow coastal strip parallel to the sea (half of the Zgharta Zawieh caza area is situated in that part);

• the Lebanon Mountains chain, the highest crest of which is just over 3 000 metres (the other half of the caza is on the western slopes and borders the highest crest in western Lebanon mountains, Qornet al Sawda 3088 meters high);

• the Bekaa Valley at a height of around 900 metres;

• the Anti-Lebanon Mountains chain, which rises to 2 800 metres, in the east.

Lebanon is administratively divided into eight regions or Mouhafazats. Each Mouhafaza is further divided into smaller districts known as Cazas. The cultivable area is estimated at 360 000 ha, or 35 % of the total area but only 60% of this potential is used.

Cultivated Land

During the period 1992-94, the total cultivated area was estimated at 189 206 ha, of which 104 120 ha consisted of annual crops and 85 086 ha consisted of permanent crops, mainly fruit trees and olives. Today the total cultivated area is estimated to approximate 296,554 ha, of which about 60% is rainfed, about 39% is irrigated and less than 1% is under greenhouses (table 1). In addition, there are over 119,774 ha under forests (4 forest areas are located in Zgharta Zawieh) and 527,790 ha of pastures. The largest agricultural region is the Bekaa Valley which represents almost 38% of the total cultivated land, followed by North Lebanon with 33%.

According to the 1970 census there were 140 000 farm holdings with 63% having less than 2 ha of land, which means that agriculture is characterized by land fragmentation. However, there are indications of a decrease in the number of very small farms and in 1985 it was reported that about 46% of the farm holdings had less than 2 ha of land. Small farm holdings are a a characterization of the agricultural potential in Zgharta Zawieh area. Below is a comparative table (table 1) that shows cultivated areas (in hectares) in the 8 different mouhafaza and their cazas.

Table 1

The pattern of agricultural land use differs from one Mohafaza to another. There are almost no greenhouses in the Bekaa or Nabatiye. The largest share of Greenhouses is in Mount Lebanon and North Lebanon. Rainfed agriculture dominates irrigated agriculture in most of the Mouhafazats; this dominance is, however, marginal with the exception of Nabatiye. The pattern of agriculture and irrigation type is presented by Caza in Table 2. It is quite revealing that in many parts (Cazas) of Mount Lebanon, irrigated agriculture supersedes rainfed agriculture. This is not true in the rest of the Mouhafazats.

Table 2

Taking a ten-year period into consideration and tracing the development of cultivated land in the major cultivated areas, it is clear that there has been considerable growth in the Bekaa, some growth in North Lebanon, little or no growth in South Lebanon and even a decline in Mount Lebanon. The period 1987 to 1997 is very special. It is basically the reconstruction period. In Zgharta - Z|awieh there has been no dramatic changes in cultivated areas during that period although we witnessed the introduction of greenhouses that most of them did not survive. While the no-growth in the South is partly explainable by the daily Israeli bombardment of the region and general lack of stability, the decline in Mount Lebanon has probably more to do with the rise in land prices and the major reconstruction boom that followed the cessation of hostilities.

Land use in Lebanon is partly constrained by the availability of water. While Lebanon is relatively well endowed with water, water exploitation is still limited and highly variable. The water flow from rainfall and snowfall is estimated roughly at 10 billion cubic meters per year, about 4 billion of which is carried by surface flow in 40 rivers. About seventeen of these rivers are perennial and originate from within the Mount Lebanon Range with the exception of the three most well known rivers of Lebanon—the Litani and the Assi (Bekaa) and Hasbani (Jabel Al Shaikh). With the exception of the Litani and the Assi, all the other rivers of Lebanon are quite short (e.g., Nahr Abou Ali 42 km and Nahr Al Bared 24 km). The irrigated cultivated areas in Zgharta Zawieh are mainly dependent on Nahr Rashiine, Nahr Jouit, Nahr Kadisha (these 3 form in the costal area Nahr Abou Ali) and hundreds of local springs.

Climate

The climate of Lebanon is typically Mediterranean, with heavy rains in the winter season (January to May) and dry and arid conditions in the remaining 7 months of the year. However, the influence of the Mediterranean Sea, the topographic features, as well as the Syrian Desert in the north create a variety of micro-climates within the country with contrasting temperatures and rainfall distribution. The average annual temperature is 20°C on the coast (ranging from 13°C in winter to 27°C in summer), 16°C in the Beeka valley (ranging from 5°C in winter to 26°C in summer) and less than 10°C at higher elevations in the mountain zones (ranging from 0°C in winter to 18°C in summer). Average annual rainfall is estimated at 823 mm, varying from 600 to 900 mm along the coastal zones to 1 400 mm on the high mountains and decreasing to 400 mm in the eastern parts and less than 200 mm in the north-east. Above 2 000 metres, precipitation is essentially niveous and helps to sustain a base yield for about 2 000 springs during the dry period. Rainfall occurs on sixty to eighty days a year, mainly between October and April. About 75% of the annual stream flow occurs in the five-month period from January to May, 16% from June to July and only 9% in the remaining five months from August to December.

This is why agriculture in Lebanon is also dependent on irrigation. Water has long been drawn from rivers and fountains to irrigate crops in the more arid areas of the Bekaa and in the middle and low elevation zones of Mount Lebanon. Most of the rivers of Lebanon are increasingly ecologically stressed from concentrated and unregulated urban and industrial growth and from intensive and unsustainable exploitation.

The Green Plan, which is a public authority established in 1963 responsible for the development of water reservoirs, and the private sector, have already developed hundreds of small earth and concrete storage pounds, with a maximum per unit capacity of 0.2 million m³. During the period 1964-1992 the Green Plan led to a total of 3.5 million m³ of earth pounds and 0.35 million m³ of concrete pounds. The Zgharta Zawieh region did not benefit from that development.

Irrigation and drainage development

Surface irrigation, mainly basin and furrow irrigation, is practiced on 1526 ha in Zgharta Zawieh. It usually comprises diversion structures or simple intakes on streams or springs, open concrete main canals and earth or concrete secondary canals. Sprinkler irrigation and micro-irrigation are rarely practiced because of the high costs of power and apparatus.

The main source of irrigation water is the Rashiine river and the Rashiine-Abou Ali complex of water resources. Some cultivated areas are irrigated from surface springs or from groundwater (artesian wells, recharge wells and springs). The use of groundwater for irrigation has increased in the past few years in view of the delay in the implementation of governmental schemes. Individual farmers in the schemes who face water shortages are increasingly relying on supplementary supply from groundwater by means of private wells and in 1980-95 about hundreds of wells were added.

In the period 1992-94 the major irrigated crops were vegetables, fruit trees, potatoes and, to a lesser extent, cereals (maize, wheat, barley).