Lebanon – Rapid Animal Feeding Aid Program
Providing Support to Conflict-Affected Smallholders
The violent conflict on Lebanese soil between Israel and Hezbollah in July-August 2006 resulted in devastating damage to the Lebanese economy with significant negative impact on the economically vulnerable rural areas in southern Lebanon and the Beqa’a Valley. The Beqa’a Valley is home to many small-ruminant herders who depend upon meat and milk sales from their flocks to sustain their livelihoods. However, road closures and bombings cut off access to grazing areas, the herders’ main source of animal feed. The wartime stresses resulted in poor animal feeding and care during the war, which led to a reduction in both quality and quantity of milk and meat production throughout the region. In addition, milk transporters were unable to collect the milk because pickup trucks and cisterns had become targets of air raids.
As the area’s economy virtually shut down for a month during the clash, dairy processors and meat buyers substantially reduced their demand, further limiting the Beqa’a herders’ incomes during the critical summer period, when they usually earn the bulk of their yearly income. This cash shortage posed a serious threat to herders, their families and the animals. The herders were forced to forgo repairs and winterization of their tents in order to use scarce funds for household food provision. Furthermore, they were unable to purchase winter feed for their herds, which is necessary to sustain the animals through late pregnancies, lambing and the milk season that occurs in winter and early spring.
It was clear that the war was going to have a serious impact on the Lebanese economy long after the U.N.-brokered ceasefire. A major reduction in milk and meat production would have rendered rural herders food insecure in the short term. Since the herders are the base of the small-ruminant milk and meat value chains in Lebanon, stakeholders at all levels would be affected, from processors to exporters to consumers. To mitigate these threats, ACDI/VOCA began implementing the USAID-funded Rapid Animal Feeding Aid (RAAFA or “compassion” in Arabic) program on November 19, 2006 in eastern and western Beqa’a to provide assistance to 508 conflict-affected herder households in three areas:
- agriculture and food security
- transitional shelter
- basic hygiene and sanitation
ACDI/VOCA had pre-existing relationships with these communities through its $6.9 million USAID-funded Action for Sustainable Agro-Industry in Lebanon project (ASAIL), which allowed it to determine needs and mobilize quickly. In fact, RAAFA, as well as ACDI/VOCA’s Initiative for Emergency Assistance to Small Ruminant Herders in Hermel, grew in response to a post-war assessment conducted under ASAIL.
Through RAAFA, which ended on April 30, 2007, ACDI/VOCA was able to reach 508 small-ruminant herders and their households in eastern and western Beqa’a, providing them with 1,362 MT of high-calorie, high-protein animal feed rations for 90,158 sheep and goats. This feed ensured that animals received sufficient amounts, and the proper mix, of nutrients during the critical winter period. It prevented additional animal sickness and death and kept herders from having to sell animals to pay for short-term household costs.
Herders also received basic shelter and hygiene materials, including 327 tarps, 1,399 blankets and 400 hygiene kits. Tarps were distributed in response to a need expressed by farmers for temporary shelter for moving their herds according to seasonal climate changes. Hygiene kits also had educational messages for children that encouraged proper sanitation and daily hygiene through colorful drawings.
To effectively distribute these materials, ACDI/VOCA used a closely monitored voucher system in collaboration with a local feed supplier that served as the distribution point for animal feed, hygiene kits, tarps and blankets. RAAFA conducted two major distribution campaigns and extensive pre- and post-distribution monitoring. Thanks to the program, 4,582 individuals (2,329 men and 2,243 women) benefited from the animal feed aid, 2,951 individuals benefited from tarp distributions, and 2,369 individuals benefited from the hygiene kits and blankets.
RAAFA succeeded in mitigating the long-term negative economic impact resulting directly and indirectly from the 2006 conflict. The collaboration between ACDI/VOCA’s RAAFA, which addressed herders’ short-term emergency needs, and the multi-year ASAIL program, which promotes long-term economic development in the small-ruminant dairy value chain, ensures that the stabilizing effect of RAAFA will continue for years to come.
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