From weed to wine
LEBANON FARMERS DITCH DAGGA FOR GRAPES, JOIN WINE CO-OP Cashing in as local wine industry blossoms in ever-expanding global market.
– Sitting among the vines of sauvignon blanc and tempranillo growing on his spectacular farm in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Michel Emad remembers the not-so-distant time when he opted to cultivate cannabis.
The retired soldier was not alone in this illicit trade: cannabis fields used to stretch as far as the eye could see in this part of Lebanon over which the state has tenuous control. “Everyone used to grow hashish, that was what the market wanted, there was no alternative crop,” Emad, a father of two in his 50s, said.
Now, he and the 220 farmers from the Coteaux Heliopolis cooperative are growing grapes for wine in the northern Bekaa Valley’s Deir al-Ahmar region.
The area, one of the poorest in Lebanon, is notorious for canna“With bis production, which expanded massively over recent decades to turn into a multimillion-dollar industry.
While cannabis farming has only been feebly challenged by the authorities over the years, it remains illegal and the small cooperative has succeeded in luring some producers away from the risky business.
They are looking to cash in as Lebanon’s wine industry has blossomed, making inroads on an ever-expanding global market.
“Growing grapes is more lucrative and leaves you with a clean conscience,” Emad said, explaining that this year’s nineton harvest earned him $10 000 (R132 712), twice his erstwhile income from cannabis.
On the other side of the dirt road running along his vineyard, the tall stems of cannabis fields are still visible.
Emad spent three years growing cannabis. The security forces regularly raid the cannabis farms in the area and Emad’s fields were wiped out twice before he joined the cooperative in 2003.
hashish you always feel threatened by the authorities, you can’t sleep at night for the constant risk of being jailed or seeing the state destroy your crops,” he said.
The Coteaux Heliopolis cooperative was launched in 1999 and covers 250 hectares of vineyards in Deir al-Ahmar.
The first harvest in 2003 and the resulting windfall sparked a wave of interest among cannabis farmers in the area.
“We have provided evidence that people don’t want to grow hashish. They are obliged to, because it is their only source of income, but they don’t actually want to live in fear and in violation of the law,” said Shawki al-Fakhri, who heads the cooperative. “If you give them an alternative, a lucrative and legal crop to farm, people will take it in a heartbeat,” said the retired engineer.
The cooperative’s harvest of grapes – about 400 tons in 2017 – is sold on to producers such as Chateau Ksara, one of the biggest players in Lebanon’s wine industry, or Domaine Wardy, one of the oldest and most renowned wineries. The project initially received funding and technical support from France and gradually grew, with local loans allowing producers to turn their fields into vineyards. The grapes of choice are syrah, tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc and viognier.
“These are grapes that like the sun and the heat and could work at high altitude,” said Charbel al-Fakhri, who got a MBA from France’s wine capital Bordeaux.
The cooperative has its own winery and made a modest start with 100 000 bottles in 2017, only a fraction of the 8 million bottles Lebanon produces each year.
For Charbel, the switch from cannabis to wine is like returning historical land to its rightful owner. Heliopolis was the name of the ancient city of Baalbek where Roman wine god Bacchus was worshipped.
“The Romans didn’t just happen to pick this place. We’re 12km from Baalbek, once the area was covered with vines,” he said. “Our land is exceptional.” – AFP