We commissioned Philippe Pernot, a journalist based in Beirut, to write a shorkk story about the farming community in the Bekaa valley.
In October 2024 Philippe joined us online for Land Stories in an event we helped organise in Bristol focusing on land issues. As part of our panel discussion, he told us about the impact the war is having on the land and the agricultural sector in Palestine and Lebanon.
Phlilppe visited the “breadbasket” of Lebanon in October 2024 during a crucial time for farmers: harvesting and securing seeds, against a backdrop of Israeli strikes in the Bekaa.
This is his shorkk story along with his photographs.
Buzuruna Juzuruna is Lebanon’s most famous agro-ecological farm, located in Saadnayel, in the Bekaa valley – Lebanon’s breadbasket.
Rows of fruits and vegetables grow around an orange and yellow circus tent, while goats bleat nearby.
Here, twenty Syrians, Lebanese and French members work together to produce organic, local produce in short circuits: a revolutionary concept in a country dominated by agro-industrial practices.
Over their eight years of experience, they even assembled an extensive “seed library”, as they call it. “We have 250 heirloom seed types, and enough to cover all of Lebanon”, proudly said Marwan, one of the French members of the farm.
But even this alternative haven has not been spared by Israel’s war against Lebanon. “We hear all the explosions shaking the valley,” Charlotte Joubert, one of the farm’s co-founders, said “There are some nights where it is impossible to sleep”.
At war with Hezbollah since October 8 2023, Israel escalated its operations and began to carpet-bomb entire regions, including south Lebanon and the Bekaa, on September 23. Later, ground troops also invaded Lebanese territory.
The war has killed 2,500 people so far, displaced more than one million, and crated a massive humanitarian crisis.
Buzuruna Juzuruna’s members have rolled up their sleeves to help those displaced by the war. A couple of artists from Baalbeck have taken refuge on the farm, as has a farmer from south Lebanon.
The team also brought blankets and mattresses to a group of 75 stranded Sri-Lankan workers of a factory that was closed down due to the war and they were left to their own devices.
Furthermore, the farm distributed more than 2 tons of lentils free of charge, as well as beans, chickpeas, peas and bulgur from their reserves, since the start of the Israeli escalation.
Walid, one of the Syrian members of the collective, was sifting lentils together with his wife Fodda and two of his children. “We send them to solidarity kitchens all over Lebanon, they can feed around 300 pole with healthy, quality food,” he explains.
“The idea behind our farm has always been self-sufficiency and food sovereignty in the event of a disaster: we’ve been working hard for eight years to get there,” Walid said proudly.
Buzuruna Juzuruna has thus become an island of solidarity and a haven of peace in times of war. But a few days after our visit, a house belonging to a Hamas executive was bombed just a few hundred meters from the farm. This is the new reality of Lebanon: no place is completely safe.
“We’re looking for ways to protect our seed bank in case of a bombing, just like others prepare suitcases, we’re packing them into boxes that we’ll hide in safe places,” Marwan said.
After planting, cultivating and harvesting here for eight years Charlotte, Marwan and many other French members of the farm returned to France to escape the danger a couple of days after our interviews.
The farm is now looking for donations to help sustain its solidarity operations. It is affected by the rising prices of agricultural material and of the retail market, while being unable to sell its usual seasonal baskets to consumers – as supply lines are closed or even bombed.
We have been supporters of Nation Station since 2020 when the community kitchen was created overnight in a disused petrol station in Beirut. They have been making meals for the community in Achrafieh which was badly hit by the port blast of 4th August 2020.
Buzuruna Juzuruna have donated their pulses and vegetables to Nation Station who make thousands of meals a day for the forcibly displaced.
We believe that Lebanon’s food sovereignty is key for its stability. To support Buzuruna Juzuruna’s efforts in this we will be donating 20% of our profits from all our online and market sales.
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