Zgharta Zawie Online Magazine

Zgharta Caza - Zgharta

Zgharta - Zawie Online Magazine

A Brief Agricultural Survey

The "mountainous" people of Ehden who had chosen the "farm" they called Zgharta in 1516 in order to spend their winters in, did it because it was surrounded by two rivers and rich irrigated land. A community based on agricultural resources was found. Through the following centuries, the people of Zgharta owned much of the land in the Zawieh. Together with the religious orders they were masters of Aardat, Rachiine, Aalma, Mejdlaya, Kfardlakos, Kfarhata and Harik.

A community interested in owning land was surely an agricultural community.

The early people of Zgharta planted vegetables in the irrigated lands near the rivers and wheat in the eastern part where water was less available. Through the years they turned to fruitful trees and to the production of silk. By the end of the nineteenth century much of the rich lands north and northeast of Zgharta were used to raising cocoons for silk production. On the other hand, where water was not available, olive trees were grown in the eastern and southern sides of Zgharta.

The early years of the twentieth century were marked by the increase in production of cocoons and olive. They paved the way for the implantation of many facilities for silk production and olive oil production. A new generation of traders was born.

By the late forties and the declining interest of the French importers for the Lebanese silk, the act of raising cocoons was no more profitable. Growing orange trees was the alternative although the climatic conditions were not optimal for that kind of trees.

Today, less and less people are concerned in agriculture. The land parcels are relatively small and the costs are rising indefinitely. The "Zghortiotes" owners of land, unlike those of the Zawieh, do not work no more personally in cultivating their lands, they became dependant of labor hand mainly foreign unskilled one. Zgharta did not survive as an agricultural community nor it succeeded in becoming an industrial one or even a trade center. Most of the fertilized lands have been sold and buildings spread randomly around. The majority of the people of Zgharta are now either emigrants or employees in the public or private sector.