The Faculty of Agricultural Sciences in the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik has organized in cooperation with the Italian AVSI organization, the final workshop on the “Rural Development in South Lebanon and Western Bekaa” project on the 8th of March 2010 at the university’s auditorium, in the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Agricultural Scientific Research.

The workshop targeted farmers of the South and Western Bekaa, putting the emphasis on the means to fight diseases and insects that feed on fruit trees and the ways to avoid chemical substances’ residual.

At the outset, the Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences in USEK, Dr. Leila Geagea delivered a speech saying: “Amidst the heavyweight problems of global warming and multiple environmental issues, we, at the Faculty, have never stopped asking ourselves the following question: what role shall we play as an academic or scientific unit?” The Dean also stressed the necessity of contributing in fostering dialogue between science and society, stating that “The Faculty of Agricultural Sciences seeks through its academic and professional activities, to display its multilateral role that aims to ensure a good quality of education on the one hand and contribute to sustainable development and interaction between professional sectors on the other.”

When the representative of the AVSI organization, Marco Perini took the floor, he touched upon the points that contributed to the success of the “Rural Development in the South and Western Bekaa” project, namely: The establishment of a network of Lebanese and Italian experts to work on the project, among whom experts from the University of Milan, the Minoprio foundation, the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik and the Lebanese University; the contribution of three USEK students to the project’s achievement, not only as an academic assignment but also as a means of active participation in the project’s exploitation; and the farmers’ personal commitment to the project.

Marina Molino Lova from AVSI, provided an in-depth explanation of the project, while Annamaria Vercezi from the faculty of agronomic sciences at the University of Milan addressed the issue of “Integrated Control- from the Italian Experience to the Lebanese Experience”. At a later stage, Dr. Linda Kfoury from the Faculty of Agronomy at the Lebanese University gave a presentation on “the Integrated Control of the Mediterranean Fly and Wood Insects”.

The workshop was concluded with the intervention of Marina Molino Lova who listed the future perspectives and measures to be taken within the course of the project in Marjayoun and Kherbet Kanafar.