Economic Sustainability of Dry Land Use: The Case Study of Irsal, Lebanon

Sustainable agriculture is the development of technology and practices that maintain the production of a safe nutritious food that is sustainable at a long term both economically and physically. In Lebanon, sustainable agriculture is still a new approach due to the impact of the civil war on this sector leading to the degradation of natural resources. The main objective of this paper is to study the economic sustainability of a transition from a traditional agropastural system to a rainfed fruit production system in the dry land of Irsal, northeast of Lebanon. Economic and financial analyses for livestock and cherry productions were conducted under different operational scale (small, medium, and large) to estimate systems profitability, and thus justify the economic motivation for such changes. The cherry crop was used in this study since it is the most dominant crop in the current changes that are taking place. The results indicate that, the transition from the agropastoral system to fruit production is justifiable given the economic motivations and the increase in the returns due to such changes. Fruit tree production is more profitable and less demanding for time and labor as compared to the old system. However, the continuous existence of the ruminant flocks is due to the fact that they represent a cash stock that can be liquidated in times of need.