René Moawad Foundation obtained, under the South Lebanon Agricultural Agreement, the Khiam Municipality’s permission to rehabilitate a milk collection center with capacity of 10 tons of milk per day.
After lengthy political negotiations, the René Moawad Foundation (FRM), one of the three partners that the FPSC has in southern Lebanon for the implementation of agricultural development activities, has obtained from the Khiam municipality the necessary permission to rehabilitate and set up the town dairy center.
The Center, owned by the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture, has never been operational and it is in an acceptable state of conservation. To be able to rehabilitate and operate it, the FRM has needed permission from the town of Khiam, a very politically sensitive southern Lebanon town.
The FRM tendered the contract for the Milk Collection Centre rehabilitation in October 2010 and selected the winning company in December; but the work could not begin until the Khiam Municipality signed the approval, in January 2011. Since this approval has been obtained, it is expected that the works will be completed within three months.
FRW has also selected 2 technicians for the laboratory for milk quality, Rami Abdallah and Mohammad Wehbe, both of Khiam, which are following an intensive training course in the FRM Center in Zgharta, and in the different production units in Khiam Milk Center.
With regard to the milk marketing, there is an agreement with the southern cooperatives to supply 4 tons of milk a day to the Lebanese company Taanayel, although that agreement has been postponed until the launch of the Center.
The project has the support of the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture, who will assign a tanker as soon as the Dairy Center starts operating. This intervention in the dairy sector is only one component of the Agreement in support of improving the productive capacity of southern Lebanon agriculture sector, financed by the AECI. The FRM develops activities in the olive sector, while the other partners, Arcenciel (AEC) and Association pour le Développement Rural (ADR), carry out activities of productive diversification, land irrigation, growing of medicinal plants, organic and sustainable farming, or business development through granting micro-credit to farmers.