After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and the direct reflection of the global wheat crisis on Lebanon, which mainly relies on the import of soft wheat for bread production, it was necessary for the state to take action to confront the crisis within the framework of self-sufficiency policy.

In this context, the Ministry of Agriculture launched this year, within the policy of self-sufficiency for food security, its plan for the year 2023-2024 and distributed 350,000 tons of soft wheat for bread production of variety 1133 to 5500 farmers, distributed over the provinces of the North, South, Bekaa and Akkar plain, in cooperation with "ACSAD" and "FAO" and international donor organizations.

The newspaper "Al-Diyar" pointed out that last year, the Bekaa's share of soft wheat was between 60 and 70 tons, but this year the quantity increased to 194,000 tons for registered eligible farmers, whose applications were accepted within the jurisdiction of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate.

In this context, the head of the Agriculture Department in Baalbek-Hermel Governorate said that the existing quantity does not correspond to the number of registered farmers who applied for soft wheat, but ten dunums will be planted for each farmer, hoping that there will be an increase in quantities next year, in order to promote food security and achieve self-sufficiency.

For his part, the Director-General of the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands, Dr. Nasr Al-Obaid, said in "ACSAD" to "Al-Diyar": "We have put in Lebanon a plan for self-sufficiency within 5 years, and in case of successful implementation of the plan developed by experts from "ACSAD" for development in cooperation with international and Lebanese experts, and at the forefront of them is the "FAO" organization, and if the plan is implemented as it is drawn and set, then Lebanon will have self-sufficiency of soft wheat for bread production, so there was insistence on using the tried varieties in Lebanon, we have variety number 901 and another of variety 1233, this variety that is planted for the second year in a row in Lebanon with very good specifications, and with high productivity between 7 to 8 tons per hectare".

He added: "If we plant 100,000 hectares of irrigated and rainfed lands suitable for cultivation, and we take the productive value, it will be at least five tons per hectare, this means an annual production of 500,000 tons, its value exceeds 140 million dollars".