Apples Fill the Orchards... Hani Announces Plan for the Season

Lebanon's Ministry of Agriculture announced a seven-step plan to develop the apple sector and a marketing campaign inside and outside Lebanon, during "Lebanese Apple Day 2026" organized with Notre Dame University-Louaize at its Zouk Mosbeh campus, under the patronage of President Joseph Aoun represented by Agriculture Minister Nizar Hani, amid a season estimated at about 195,000 tons facing marketing challenges. Director General Louis Lahoud said about 100,000 tons are destined for the local market and 95,000 tons for export, welcoming the resumption of agricultural exports to Saudi Arabia after their halt in 2021, while Hani noted the war affected 22.5 percent of Lebanon's agricultural area.