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Major losses for southern Libya farmers due to continued instability

August 5, 2014 at 10:31 am

An official at the Libyan Ministry of Agriculture in the southern city of Sabha said that farmers in Libya’s south are suffering from major losses as a result of the armed conflict that is taking place in the capital Tripoli.

Khamis Salem told Anadolu news agency in a phone interview that farmers in the south usually transfer their produce to Tripoli and its suburbs to be sold there, but the closure of Tripoli’s key markets due to armed clashes has stopped the transfer of agricultural products. Closed markets include the Karimiya Market and the Sunday Market.

He said the price of vegetables and fruits in the south has significantly declined due to the excess supply that was produced by farmers and could not be transferred to the capital.

Salem added that the cities of the south are also suffering from severe shortages of fuel and higher prices in the black market, which makes it even more difficult to transfer agricultural produce to Libya’s northern and eastern areas.

Libya’s western areas depend on agricultural production and cover 80 per cent of the local market’s needs.

Hashem Fadil, a farmer from the south, said that Libyan farmers have been severely harmed due to the current events in Tripoli because they cannot transfer their produce to the capital, leading to a steep rise in the price of vegetables and fruits in Tripoli. For example, a kilogram of tomatoes now costs 4 dinars but previously cost only 1 dinar. On the other hand, in the south where there is an excess of supply, a kilogram of tomatoes costs half a dinar.

In a phone interview with Anadolu, Fadil said that the losses to individual farmers have reached 50,000 – 150,000 dinars due to excessive production.

Farmers cannot even find enough fuel to enable them to reach their fields and take care of their crops.

Asked whether there is a mechanism for the Ministry of Agriculture to coordinate farmers’ trade, Fadil said that it is highly risky to attempt to transfer crops to Tripoli markets, such as the Karimiya Market, due to the armed clashes taking place near that market.

Tripoli has witnessed sporadic clashes since 13 July between the Forces for the Protection of Libya’s Security and Stability, which is comprised of the Operating Room of Libya’s Revolutionaries and other former revolutionaries from Misrata in the northeast, on the one hand, and the Qa’qa’, Sawaek and Madani Brigades, which come from Zantan in the northwest. The two sides are fighting over control of the Tripoli International Airport.

“Due to the clashes I can’t even go to Tripoli to get seeds, which means that I will not be able to cultivate three hectares of greenhouses that had been prepared for the cultivation of all kinds of peppers, cucumbers and eggplants,” Fadil said.

Preliminary losses to labour due to the failure to cultivate planned areas reached around 30,000 dinars, Fadil said, noting that if the situation remains as it is, losses will increase.

Libya spends 3 million dinars annually to subsidise seeds that farmers purchase at nominal prices.

The head of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Media Bureau said that farmers in Wadi Al-Rabei and Qasr Bin Ghashir – both located to the south of Tripoli – are unable to market their agricultural produce.

The production of grains constitutes 80 per cent of Libya’s agricultural production.

Local residents of Sabha, in the south of Libya, told Anadolu that the price of gasoline in the black market has reached 12.5 dinars (around $10) per one litre of gasoline. In normal times, one litre of gasoline is sold for 0.2 dinars ($0.246).

Residents also pointed out that there is a severe shortage in formula milk for children and export products, especially rice, sugar, tomato paste and oil.

One box of tomato paste (24 tins) currently costs 60 dinars, when it used to be sold for 22.5 dinars in commercial stores and only 17 dinars in consumer cooperatives previously.

The political and security turmoil that Libya is going through has been escalating since clashes erupted between armed factions that are determined to use force in their struggle over control of the country’s strategic areas.

By Ahmed Al-Khomeisi, Anadolu news agency