BEIRUT (Xinhua) – Jamal Abu Awwad, a 70-year-old Lebanese village man, stands at the window of his house watching with great joy the heavy snowfall that covered his entire neighborhood for the third time in less than two weeks.
Abu Awwad, who lives in the town of Shebaa, told Xinhua that he no longer fears water scarcity after the abundant rains and heavy snowfall, and he expects farmers to be blessed with a generous agricultural season and good yields to make up for the deteriorating living conditions.
This year, snow covered around 70 percent of Lebanon’s 10,452 square kilometers area, and its thickness in mountainous areas, which locates at 1,500 meters above the sea level, reached three to five meters, according to Lebanon’s meteorological service. In this way, it will save additional water for springs and rivers and increase irrigation during summer.
Farmer Kamel Hanna told Xinhua that the heavy rain and the melting snow contributed clearly to rising water levels in most of the artificial ponds in southern Lebanon.
For his part, farmer Hassib Abdullah said that 100 ponds in southern Lebanon were filled with water during this winter, which will secure irrigation water at the lowest cost for farmers.
“We won’t have to use well water pumps, the cost of which is 300,000 Lebanese pounds (LBP) per hour, given the rise of diesel price,” he added.
The agricultural sector in southern Lebanon suffers from the tremendous increase in the cost of irrigation water amid a halt in water pumps operated by the Ministry of Energy and Water due to their high cost of operation, according to Samer Akl, head of an agricultural cooperative in the south.
Akl explained that the high cost of irrigation water forced some farmers to abandon many of their crops, reducing the cultivated areas by approximately 55 percent. But the availability of irrigation water this year, he added, will reduce production costs and encourage farmers to go back to their fields.
Adel Abu Faour, vice president of the Cooperative for Rainfed and Seedlings farming in Southern Lebanon, told Xinhua that the intensity of snowfall in areas with low altitudes revived hopes for excellent agricultural production, which will support farmers amid the current economic crisis.
He explained that the accumulation of snow on heights means that water storage and the flow of springs will be excellent for planting summer vegetables and orchards of fruit trees, especially apples, cherries and pears.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Engineer Fatima Abu Ali confirmed to Xinhua that snow not only benefits crops growth, but also eliminates a large percentage of insects, pests and diseases that can destroy forests, fruit trees and many crops.
She noted that snow can enhance pasture productivity and serve livestock breeders.
The agricultural sector in Lebanon constitutes around 7 percent of the GDP, and provides income for about 15 percent of the population.