Around 1.26 million people in Lebanon struggled with severe food shortages in mid-2024, and the situation is expected to get worse
About 1.26 million people in Lebanon, or 23% of the population, faced serious food shortages by mid-2024. The situation is likely to get worse as the conflict spreads beyond the southern regions.
Food Insecurity
Since the conflict in the country started getting worse in September 2024, it has greatly increased the risks to farming, which is an important source of income and jobs for many people. This is especially true after the financial collapse that began in October 2019, according to a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) released on Friday.
Lebanon has been facing serious food insecurity, made worse by several overlapping crises and the conflict, which has become worse since late 2023. The report says that many Lebanese families have been forced to take harmful actions, such as cutting down on meals or buying cheaper, lower-quality food.
Syrian refugees, who rely a lot on aid and informal work, continue to face major problems, especially with unstable incomes and severe food shortages.
The conflict, poor seed quality due to lack of proper regulations, droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events have all led to a below-average harvest of staple crops in 2024.
Cereal production
The report says that cereal production in 2024 is expected to drop significantly. The total wheat and barley harvest is predicted to be 113,700 tons, which is about 40% lower than usual.
Potato production is expected to be 610,700 tons, about 8% below average. This shows a smaller drop in potatoes compared to cereals. Pulse production, however, remains very low, estimated at 4,900 tons. This highlights the wider problems in food production and the limited variety of crops available.
The overuse of chemicals in farming and poor farming practices have made the food insecurity situation worse by reducing crop yields and damaging the environment. These problems, along with the ongoing conflict, create a serious crisis that threatens food safety and the future of farming.
With an expected yearly need of 1.48 million tons of cereals and potatoes, the country will need to import 664,000 tons of wheat, 57,000 tons of barley, 488,000 tons of maize for animal feed, and 72,000 tons of potatoes for the 2024/25 marketing year (July to June). This is a 3% increase in cereal imports compared to the average of the past five years.
Conflict
The fighting between Israel and Lebanon made the already bad conditions in Lebanon even worse. It forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes and caused the deaths of over 1,000 people, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Published: 7th December 2024
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