Partners
The SupMed project relies on strong partnerships in Egypt and in Lebanon to implement its activities with local stakeholders and to ensure an optimal diffusion of the project results.
The CIHEAM IAMM : Mediterranean Agronomic Intitute of Montpellier
It coordinates and cofinances the project and is the contracting authority as well as the scientific coordinator.
Lebanese partners
The Green Plan and the HASAD project
Cofinancers and members of the Steering Committee
The Green Plan is a Lebanese institution founded in 1963 to promote the local agricultural development in rural areas of Lebanon. It is under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Green Plan develops its activities in rural areas with the local administrative authorities of agriculture departments and with some Municipalities. Apart from its main functions for improving the agricultural infrastructures, it has been involved in the elaboration of the agricultural strategy in Lebanon. It ensures the coordination of the Hilly Areas for Sustainable Agriculture Development (HASAD) project, whose activities are closely linked to SupMed project on the Bekaa plain.
The Private Agricultural Centre of Hermel
Project Manager on the fields
The Centre was founded in 2012, it is very active with local farmers, it ensures extension service, services for pressing, extraction and bottling of the organic olive oil, sells agricultural inputs (irrigation systems…) and organize training sessions. For the Supmed project, It will be in charge of the implementation of the following activities: identification and monitoring of the farmers involved, implementation of plots and training activities. It will also contribute to the definition of the Charter of good practices and to the management of the future collective nursery.
The Union of Baalbeck-Hermel Municipalities and the Union of Hermel Cooperatives.
Members of the Support Committee
They are very much commited locally in the supervision and monitoring of the agricultural production of the Bekaa. Both will be involved at the level of the Support Committee. The municipalities constitute the first link to interact with the farmers and to mobilize them, but also with cooperatives, associations and the private sector (value chain) highly involved in the agricultural production. Due to the fact that the Union of Municipalities is in direct contact with farmers from the Region, it supports the Agricultural Private Centre of Hermel and manages the irrigation systems through a specific Committee. The Municipalities will transfer the responsibility of the new irrigation system to water user associations.
The Union of Baalbeck-Hermel cooperatives is composed of 10 women coops and 8 farmers ones. The Union is a non profit organization, It supports the activities and the commercialization of the products as well as the capacity building activities.
The Ministry of Agriculture
Member of the Support Committee
It is involved at the level of rural areas through its Agriculture Regional Units (one Unit by Governorate) and through its Agricultural Regional Centres for advisory which participate to the SupMed Support Committee.
The Faculty of Agronomy of the Lebanese University (Rural Economy Department)
Member of the SupMed Support Committee
It has an important expertise in national and international rural development projects in the Bekaa linked to the issue of climate change, immigration and jobs creation. It will contribute to capacity building activities and to the diffusion and capitalization activities around the results of the project.
Egyptian Partners
Executive Agency for the Comprehensive Development Projects (EACDP)
Co-funding and member of the Steering Committee
This Agency is a Department of the Ministry of Agriculture in charge of the implementation, monitoring and assessment of development projects. It will be the key institutional partner of SupMed project in Egypt.
This Departement is responsible for the implementation of all the actions funded since 1970, in the framework of the convention between the Ministry of Agriculture and the World Food Programme (WFP).
Currently, the Department has to identify and develop adaptation strategies to face climate change in the framework of the programme « Building Resilient Food Security Systems to Benefit the Southern Egypt Region» funded by the WFP. The project carried out by the EACDP in Egypt had already implemented a data base in several Governorate.These datas are collected by farmer and biophysical environment (soil fertility, climate…), they deal with agricultural practices and the pressure farmers are submitted to: labour, water access, market access, etc. This data base should be extrapoled and improved by adding organizational questions for the Luxor Governorate i.e the target area of SupMed project.
On the field, the EACDP works in partnership with the regional services of the ministry in charge of the extension which are involved in the daily activities of the Agency. It also works with the help of the Agricultural Research Centre (ARC), which is also under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture whose researchers are present in the Governorates to support extension services. It will allow to contact other important local partners on the field.
EACDP is in charge of the implementation of the agricultural regional strategy the for 2020 South of Egypt. Its participation in the SupMed project will constitute an excellent opportunity to elaborate a concrete action plan coming out of this strategy.
Egyptian Association for Sustainable Development (EASD)
Project manager on the field
This on field association is present in the target area of the project since 2016. It is involved in training, participative elaboration and testing of adaptation initiatives to climate change with agricultural households. It has 500 farmers associates. EASD is specialized in agricultural advisory dedicated to adaptation strategies to face climate change and to socio-economics issues. It has beeb working in close collaboration with the EACDP since its creation.
For the SupMed project, it is in charge of implementing the identification and monotoring of farmers activities, of implementing the plots and the training activities. It also contributes to the definition of the Charter for good practices and to the management of the future collective investments (a composting unit of agricultural waste for the production of organic inputs).
The Rural Development Study Centre (Cairo University, Faculty of Agronomy)
Member of the Support Committee
It brings together researchers specialized in rural economy and sociology having a well-known expertise for international donors (Word Bank, FAO, GIZ) on social innovations paying attention to environnement in rural territories.
The team is recognized for its expertise on irrigation projects and assessement of the functioning of water user associations.
The Statistics and Rural and Agricultural Development Department of the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture.
Member of the Support Committee
The CIHEAM IAMM works in close collaboration with this Department in the framework of the European programme ENPARD for the reflection about the determinants of a sustanaible agriculture, it could be also mobilized for the SupMed project. Within the ENPARD project a reflection about agriculture advisory has been initiated with a specific focus on adaptation strategies face to different types of changes (including climate change). The Department will contribute to the SupMed activities for the diffusion and capitalization activities on the project results.
