The Lebanese Government has started discussing a new draft law that aims to regulate the trade of seeds, seedlings, and propagation material.
The law was quickly picked up by workers active in agriculture, agrifood, environmental sustainability and local livelihood sectors, who criticized it and pointed to ways it might harm local self-sustenance prospects, markets, and environmental sustainability metrics.
The proposal of the law has been done in a way that favors hybrid seeds over locally produced ones, providing large companies with even more control.
The law follows a political economy trend in Lebanon over the last decades that potentially favors rentier and monopolistic economic activity over productive and local, community level sectors. This would go in-line with policies that favor large traders and companies over small-to-medium scale initiatives.
Immediate Criticism
Journalists and experts in the matters highlight that as the law protects companies, it does not protect local seeds and the addition of protection mechanisms was deemed as “overcomplicating” the draft.
Sustainable development expert Mourad Ayyach asked for political clarity and constructive rethinking, particularly with the Ministry of Agriculture, via a LinkedIn post.
Ayyach explained that priorities should include putting local farmer-based seeds at the heart of policy, protecting small farmers and rural nurseries, and treating food as a right and a commons as opposed to a captive corporate market. He also called on agricultural unions and federations, environmental and food sovereignty networks, and civil society organizations to take a clear public position on the draft law collectively.
The Agri Movement in Lebanon also identified several issues presented by the draft law, following a public discussion held by the movement.
This includes legislative weaknesses with the law not following established Lebanese legal structures, intellectual property risks which could restrict farmers’ traditional rights to save and exchange seeds, genetic erosion which would favor commercial varieties at the expense of indigenous Lebanese seeds, biodiversity, and climate resilience, and a problematic timing with concerns of the law being presented close to the upcoming parliamentary elections, set for May 2025.
The discussion ended with an agreement to come up with consolidated positions and follow-up through four committees: a grassroots organizing committee, a decision-maker engagement committee, a media and public communication committee, and a research committee according to a brief provided by Ayyach.
A Continued Trend to Weaken Local Agrifood Initiatives
Lebanon’s productive sectors have continued to be severely undermined by back-to-back state budgets and overall policymaking trends over the last few decades. National budgets have allocated less than 0.5% for agriculture, for example, despite it being a pillar of self-sustenance for many households, especially in marginalized regions.
During the last two years, Lebanon went through what was described as the worst drought in recent history, as well as recurrent Israeli attacks that have significantly harmed agricultural workers and damaged land and livelihoods, with thousands of hectares of agricultural land burned.
The conflict and the continued socioeconomic crisis also exposed the vulnerability of agrifood systems and market economies across Lebanon. The country’s reliance on imports has been shown as a crucial factor in that regard, such as after the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022 and global wheat shortages, with Lebanon importing around 90% of its wheat from these two countries.
As such, the drafting of a law that could potentially harm local seeds and agricultural initiatives could worsen the state of affairs for productive sectors in the country, and particularly harm low-to-middle income households and low-to-middle-sized productive initiatives.
