Lebanon – Initiative for Emergency Assistance to Small Ruminant Herders in Hermel

Offering Relief to War-Affected Smallholders

The brief but devastating conflict during the summer of 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon destroyed more than 900 small and medium-sized enterprises and caused an estimated $200 million in damage to the private sector. The conflict affected Lebanon’s rural goat and sheep herders as well, causing serious damage to homes, communities and flocks through the bombing and shelling campaigns. Occurring during peak season for meat and milk sales, the clash caused debilitating cash shortages that prevented herders from purchasing sufficient amounts of winter feed for animals. The communities were faced with a situation that threatened their animals’ long-term health, productivity rate, reproduction and quality of milk, jeopardizing their livelihoods’ security in the coming year.

A post-war assessment carried out by ACDI/VOCA’s $6.9 million Action for Sustainable Agro-Industry in Lebanon (ASAIL) project found that Lebanese herders and their households, for whom goat and sheep represent the primary source of income, were highly affected. The situation was particularly desperate for herders in Hermel, located in the northern Beqa’a Valley and considered the second-poorest district, in the country. In coordination with Mercy Corps under its U.K. Department for International Development-sponsored emergency relief program, ACDI/VOCA maximized its existing outreach capacity under ASAIL and implemented the short-term Initiative for Emergency Assistance to Small Ruminant Herders in Hermel program from December 2006 to January 2007 in northern Beqa’a.

The program, carried out in 57 villages, focused on an animal vaccination campaign to ensure animal health and reduce susceptibility to diseases and an animal feed subsidy program to assist conflict-affected herders in obtaining the rations necessary to sustain their flocks through the winter.

Under its program, ACDI/VOCA reached 536 herder households (approximately 1,608 direct and 3,608 indirect beneficiaries) in a highly economically vulnerable area where little relief had been provided. The vaccination campaign innocuated 47,564 sheep and goats against the two most economically devastating diseases in Lebanon—foot-and-mouth disease and enterotoxaemia disease. Through the animal feed subsidy program, ACDI/VOCA distributed 1,077 tons of wheat to 364 herder households, providing much-needed foodstuffs to 33,587 heads of goat and sheep.

The project far exceeded its original outreach targets, reaching 47 percent more herders than originally targetd with feed and vaccination services and 75 percent more goat and sheep animals than projected. On average, each herder household received approximately $549 in vaccination and feed assistance, approximately 9 percent of a herder’s annual income. The vaccinations have prevented the herders from losing an estimated $2.6 million of their animals due to mortality and morbidity, allowing the herders to weather the losses they had suffered from the war’s onset and remain active participants in Lebanon’s economy.

Although the ongoing tense political situation continues to affect the economy, ACDI/VOCA’s work assisted small ruminant herders to overcome the negative impact of the war by mitigating economic problems and strengthening their capacity to maintain their livelihoods. Through its Initiative for Emergency Assistance to Small Ruminant Herders in Hermel program, ACDI/VOCA accomplished much in a short period of time, demonstrating the effectiveness of ACDI/VOCA’s expertise when applied in an emergency relief context.