Beirut (Witnessing Life) - There is a saying in Lebanon: a strong man will come out of the thyme’s stem.
Thyme is one of the most important wild plant in Lebanon for hundreds of years, since the Roman era. A traditional Lebanese herb, Thyme is widely eaten in foods such as Tabbouleh or Kebbe.
It was this saying that prompted Mohammad Nehme, a Thyme and Zaatar farmer from Nabatiyeh, Southern Lebanon, to produce Thyme instead of tobacco.
“I started collecting seeds until I had about 4 kg. I experimented with the plant and it produced around 5 million plants. I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I contacted the Agricultural Ministry of Lebanon and the municipality and other NGOs in the Nabatiyeh area but nobody visited me,” says Mohammad Nehme.
“I urge the Lebanese government to protect the Thyme plant because it is our tradition and it is a blessed plant.”
Compared to tobacco, 0.1 hectors of tobacco will generate a revenue of 1,100,000 LL because the government has a fixed the yield of 100 kg, while 0.1 hectors of thyme can yield around 150 kg, sold at 12000-13000 LL/kg.
Tobacco needs cultivation 5 times per year. It must also be planted every year, requires pesticides and fertilizers and the seeds need to grow in a nursery before transplanting to the field. While renewal of the thyme field is every 10 years.
Harvest takes 10 days including processing, and you have the liberty to harvest anytime the prices are high, unlike tobacco, which has a certain week to be harvested.
Thyme thrives in almost any climate and grows naturally in the Lebanese mountains, especially at 350-800m of altitude.
It is also a medicinal, unlike tobacco. The leaves are excellent for bronchial and gastrointestinal inflammations. The oil has antiseptic and antifungal properties. A lot of drugs purchased in pharmacies have thyme oil as an ingredient.
“The farmer is really neglected in Lebanon because there are no fixed prices for thyme, and anyone with a big stock can affect the market negatively. Management is a must if production increases,” explains Nehme.
Farmers like Nehme could benefit from sustainable practices, say environmentalists. According to a 284-page report by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development titled, ‘Arab Environment: Future Challenges,’ Arab countries’ policies and decision makers are ignoring environmental issues and the importance of sustainable education and nature conservation.
Although the region is characterized by a wide diversity, not just in political, ethnic, social, cultural, and economic terms, but also in terms of rich and fertile land and biodiversity. The report also highlighted how conflict directly impacts the environment by destroying the land, harvest and access to markets.
The effects of war have been severely felt in Nabatiyeh. In July 2006, their livelihoods, houses and nearly 70 percent of the agricultural sector were destroyed. New trees planted a year ago were also destroyed during the mini war, which erupted in May of 2008.
Abou Hassan is a 70 year-old native farmer from the village of Mayfadoun, Nabatiyeh, in Southern Lebanon, who enjoys his life of planting and harvesting the land he has inhabited for most of his life.
“How will this interview benefit my life? Nothing I say will change my daily routines or the routines of those in the villages. It will neither change the wars and destruction we’ve experienced,” replied Abou Hassan.”People here don’t have any choice politically.”
Lebanon has witnessed several efforts in creating awareness, spreading sustainable development, developing habits and skills, and encouraging values with regards to environmental issues.
Sustainable Education
In December of 2002, in UNGA Resolution 57/254, the UN General Assembly declared the years 2005-2014 to be the ‘Decade of Education for Sustainable Development’ (UNDESD). In the declaration, the role of education was recognized as being essential for achieving sustainable development.
The educational reforms being witnessed in the region, like in Lebanon, have included a review of the need to further include and promote environmental education. Incorporating environmental education in basic and higher education should benefit from the international directions, initiatives, and treaties set forth by the international community in this regard.
The report also emphasized the importance of sustainable education as a means of promoting biodiversity and linking the individual to their land.
The American University of Beirut’s Nature Conservation Center for Sustainable Futures (IBSAR) educates local villages on the importance of maintaining nature’s cycles through it’s BioKids program.
“IBSAR is not interested in just planting trees,” says Samer Toutoungy, coordinator of IBSAR’s BioKids program. “It’s through our educational games that we are able to plant a seed in the younger generation so that they grow up learning the importance of nature conservation.”
What differentiates the initiatives of Land and People and IBSAR from other local and foreign NGO’s is that the campaign is community integrated while other organizations focus on large nature reserves that rarely involve small producers directly.
“This project increased the income of many farmers and offered a substitute to tobacco, which has a higher cost of production and more labor extensive,” adds Nehme.
“I have been selling my products in markets in Beirut like Souk el Tayeb, Dahiyeh and Biel, I sold 1 ton in 2008. Associations such as Land and People and IBSAR have helped small producers a lot by providing a market for our products.”
In an effort to fill the gap, local Lebanese NGO’s and academia are creating outreach programs aimed at raising the awareness of the local community and developing practical ways of increasing the livelihoods of small producers.
“We are working on finding alternative crops for tobacco, in order to help Lebanese farmers who are struggling due to the increase of input cost, decrease in water availability, labour and absence of markets,” says local engineer and farmer Khalil Oleik who created the Land and People Association along with Dr. Rami Zurayk after the 2006 July war.
“We help the farmers by allowing them to use these facilities, providing them a markets and advertising to sell their products.”
Land and People aids in managing field crops in a scientific and practical manner, to obtain less production cost without changing the quality of the crop. They work with farmers in citrus, banana or vegetable production, or even alternative crops such as thyme.
In addition, they fund alternative crops for tobacco, in order to help the Lebanese farmers struggling to survive with the increase of the input cost, decrease in water availability, labor and absence of markets.
“We still need the help of the government and the local and foreign NGOs, because we are convinced that this plant has a huge potential in this area, right now we have around 50 hectors of thyme and we estimate that next year the production will increase to cover 100 hectors,” adds Oleik.
