Wheat crisis in Bekaa: Farmers face tough wheat storage decisions

In Bekaa, sixty thousand tons of hard and soft wheat are stacked in warehouses, resulting from an entire season's harvest left unclaimed by most farmers.

This surplus comes from many farmers failing to submit wheat delivery requests to the Economy Ministry within the designated timeframe.

Some farmers opted to store their wheat instead of selling it to the government at $270 per ton, based on the Sayrafa exchange rate, deeming it below the global market price of $350 per ton. They attempted to sell their crops to local mills, but their efforts were in vain as the mills preferred to purchase imported wheat at subsidized government rates.

"The obligation imposed on mills that import wheat from abroad to purchase 10% of the national wheat directly without routing the payment through Banque du Liban (BDL) was intended to support local farmers," said the head of the farmer union,

However, the measures by the Economy and Agriculture Ministries to prohibit farmers from exporting their crops overseas in favor of buying them locally have led to significant financial losses, estimated to reach around $20 million if sold at the global market rate.

LBCI's sources confirmed that credits will be made available next week to commence purchasing the local harvest from those willing to sell at prices lower than the global market rate.