Apple Harvesting Campaign 2006

Duration of the project
September to November 2006

Partners
Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF)
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Universite Saint Esprit - Kaslik (USEK)

Geographic areas covered by the project
Villages in the districts of Jbeil, Batroun, Zgharta, Dounieh and Bcharre in North Lebanon and Mount Lebanon regions.

Beneficiaries
over 1500 farmers (apple growers)
over 1000 unskilled workers and school students
25 university student
15 newly graduated agricultural engineers

Background
The apple harvesting season in Lebanon is from mid-September to mid-December. This year as a result of the war, the sector was facing heavy challenges due to the destruction of bridges and roads, the blockade imposed on the country and the scarcity of foreign man power.

The goals of the project
to support the farmers by finding man power for harvest and helping them in marketing the produce.
to train local unskilled workers and students on proper harvest and post-harvest methods, and thus in the future not depend anymore on foreign man power.
to create 15,000 working days for unskilled workers, school and university students, and agricultural engineers.
to organize a yearly event: the 'Lebanese Apple Harvesting Day'

Click to view a bigger size of the campaign billboard >>

Details of the project
The first steps is to train unskilled workers, students and freshly graduated agricultural engineers on apple harvest and post-harvest activities.
The trained people would later be employed to harvest the produce of over 1500 farmers in the villages covered by the project.
The unskilled workers would be from those who lost their jobs due to the war.
The school and university students would be from those that were not able to get a summer-job to support their school and university fees, because of the war.
The freshly graduated agricultural engineers that would supervise the work would be graduates from USEK university, chosen and contacted by the university's administration.
In return, the farmers would offer 80 tons of the produce to be distributed for free by RMF to local hospitals, schools, orphanages and social centers.
The produce would be packaged and stored for free at the cold storage units in the Agricultural Center of the North.
The project would help the farmers to market and sell the produce via the existing Agricultural Central Market project part of the CEDARSplus program, run by RMF in partnership with CHF and USAID.

More Photos:


One more crate is ready

A student

A good harvest day!

On his shoulder


Loading on the truck

Work and fun

Work and pride

Work and organization