BEIRUT (Xinhua) – Adham Abdallah with a white keffiyeh on his head to protect himself from the blistering sunshine, was stunned at the “strange” scene of corn kernels exploding in his orchard in southern Lebanon.
“It is a strange scene. For the first time in my life, I see corn kernels exploding under high temperatures and the scorching sun, despite being covered with several layers of green leaves,” 70-year-old Abdallah told Xinhua.
Abdallah feared that the temperature would continue to rise, leading to severe damage to all corn grains and a massive yield loss.
Youssef Fayyad, a 60-year-old fruit grower, told Xinhua that the scorching heat has accelerated the ripening of the prickly pear fruit in his orchard.
“Many of the prickly pears ripen fast and fall,” Fayyad said while picking fruits with a group of workers in his sprawling field in Majidiyeh in southern Lebanon.
“Although we have been racing against time to harvest and market the fruits, there is still a one-third loss in our production,” he lamented.
Hot air masses in the Arabian Peninsula will continue to impact Lebanon and the eastern basin of the Mediterranean through August, according to a report released by the Lebanese Meteorological Department in July.
Akram al-Ghareeb, the owner of a 9,000-square-meter vegetable base in Wazzani in southeastern Lebanon, said farmers fear the continuing heatwave will inevitably destroy vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers, and cowpeas, noting that wilted plants have become increasingly common this year.
He warned that the extreme heat would later affect olive production, the primary source of livelihood for many Lebanese farmers.
The agricultural production loss is mainly traced to irrigation water shortage as most rivers and springs dried up quickly amid the intense heat waves. The water level of artesian wells decreased to about half, lamented al-Ghareeb.
“In this abnormal climate, the plants get damaged, and their production period shortens. A plant that used to bear fruit for about three months now bears fruit for only one month, leading to decreased agricultural production,” Ibrahim Tarshishi, head of the farmers’ association in Lebanon’s Bekaa region, explained.
The Ministry of Agriculture estimated losses of 40 percent and 20 percent in vegetable and fruit production, respectively, as a result of the heatwave sweeping the country, said Zidan Faour, head of the cooperative for improving agricultural production in the regions of Hasbaya and Arqoub in southern Lebanon.
In addition to olives, fruit products constitute 31 percent of the total volume of agricultural production in Lebanon, while vegetables constitute 63 percent, sources from the Ministry of Agriculture told Xinhua.