Amidst Lebanon’s worsening economic conditions, local farmers and agricultural cooperatives have faced rising costs of production coupled with reduced incomes. In response, USAID’s Community Support Program (CSP) supported six cooperatives (COOPs) across Lebanon by providing them with equipment to expand their production and improve their income generation. CSP has also offered trainings on food quality and processing, business and marketing plans, branding and visibility, packaging, sales, and building effective market linkages. To amplify the impact of assistance, CSP established a Community of Practice (CoP) to improve the COOPs’ sales by sharing best practices, lessons learned and connecting them to new markets. From December 2022 to June 2024, different cooperative members showcased their products at five events over 14 days, generating revenues from 228 sales orders, and establishing long-term trade
contracts. Individual cooperatives also established promising partnerships. Fnaideq Cooperative has formed alliances with several businesses in Beirut, securing contracts with three points of sale in addition to individual contracts for approximately 4 tons of products. Jdaidet Al Qaitaa Cooperative has collaborated with multiple retailers and exported their olive salad to Paris through “La Mouneh”, a French business selling Lebanese products. Ainata Cooperative has partnered with “Fruit and Vegetable (FAV) Lebanon”, a consortium of five Lebanese agricultural cooperatives, enabling it to market cherry products during sales events in Europe. “The Gemmayze Habibet Albe market was a chance to connect with loyal customers that we met in previous markets and to meet new ones who like to support small businesses in rural areas”, stated Sanaa Omar, Head of Jdaidet Al Qaitaa COOP in Akkar. Due to the ongoing conflict, some COOPs have been unable to proceed with production, while others have continued to move forward with their manufacturing.