Lebanon’s Olive Growers Struggle as Conflict and Climate Pressures Deepen

Summary

The olive har­vest in Lebanon for the 2025/2026 sea­son is fac­ing sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges due to weather extremes, mil­i­tary pres­sure in the south, and a 40 per­cent drop in pro­duc­tion. Rising pro­duc­tion costs, water short­ages, and near-war con­di­tions in the south are mak­ing it dif­fi­cult for farm­ers to har­vest their crops, with some areas fac­ing extreme con­di­tions. Despite these chal­lenges, efforts are being made to improve the resilience of olive groves through regen­er­a­tive farm­ing prac­tices and the for­ma­tion of a Central Committee for Olives and Olive Oil to pro­tect local pro­duc­ers and strengthen over­sight against adul­ter­ation and fraud.

The olive har­vest in Lebanon is prov­ing excep­tion­ally dif­fi­cult for many grow­ers. Weather extremes and ongo­ing mil­i­tary pres­sure in the south have turned the 2025/2026 cam­paign into one of the most chal­leng­ing in recent years.

Agriculture Minister Nizar Hani said olive oil yields are run­ning low nation­wide. Official esti­mates fore­cast a 40 per­cent drop in pro­duc­tion, though late-sea­son rain­fall could offer lim­ited relief in some areas.

According to International Olive Council data, Lebanon’s olive oil out­put has steadily declined. Average pro­duc­tion over the past five sea­sons has fallen to just over 20,000 tons. The min­is­ter added that con­di­tions in the south increas­ingly reflect the accel­er­at­ing impact of cli­mate change.

“The major issue affect­ing us, and what other pro­duc­ers and farm­ers are talk­ing about, is the drought and the rapidly chang­ing cli­mate,” said Karim Arsanios, owner of the award-win­ning Lebanese pro­ducer Solar.

Rising pro­duc­tion costs con­tinue to strain grow­ers across the coun­try, with trans­port and irri­ga­tion costs ris­ing sharply, espe­cially as water short­ages worsen.

“There is sim­ply no water. Last year it barely rained. This affects not only olive trees but farm­ers across many crops. The cli­mate cri­sis is desta­bi­liz­ing every­thing,” Arsanios said.

“In the north we were lucky enough to har­vest the olives. There is some sta­bil­ity here. But peo­ple in the south were not as lucky,” he added.

Near-war con­di­tions have per­sisted in south­ern Lebanon despite the cease­fire signed a year ago. Olive farm­ers con­tinue to face inse­cu­rity and dis­place­ment, as pre­vi­ously reported by Olive Oil Times in cov­er­age of esca­lat­ing con­flict in the south.

Farmers in the south must har­vest under the super­vi­sion of the Lebanese Army in coor­di­na­tion with UNIFIL. Complex autho­riza­tions are required, and Israeli mil­i­tary activ­i­ties — includ­ing drone sur­veil­lance and occa­sional bomb­ings — remain a con­stant threat.

“Conditions have become so extreme. We did not have bomb­ings, as our groves are in a Christian area untouched by the mil­i­tary oper­a­tions. Still, every day dur­ing har­vest you wake up and do not know if you will be able to har­vest at all,” said Rose Bechara Perini, founder of the award-win­ning pro­ducer Darmmess.

“From other areas in the south we are hear­ing it is even more dif­fi­cult. Farmers need to fill out forms for access, list­ing details they often can­not pre­dict — such as the exact num­ber of work­ers and their tasks. It’s really hard,” she added.

Many grow­ers must reach the sen­si­tive Blue Line bor­der area, where a wall is being built fol­low­ing the cease­fire. UNIFIL mon­i­tors the zone, which remains a high-risk area. U.N. forces have warned that sec­tions of the Israeli-built wall appear to extend into Lebanese ter­ri­tory.

The con­flict has also destroyed more than 40,000 olive trees. ​“This is not a loss for our coun­try only, but a loss for every­one. These trees have been around for so long,” Arsanios said.

At Solar’s groves in Kour, in north­ern Lebanon, Arsanios is pur­su­ing regen­er­a­tive, low-impact farm­ing to strengthen resilience. The team avoids till­ing, uses nat­ural com­post, ter­races land for water reten­tion and plants com­pan­ion species such as figs and vines to enhance bio­di­ver­sity. ​“We want trees to actu­ally help one another,” he said.

“Climate change has always been some­thing in the back of my mind. I knew we were going to be faced with it, so I wanted to be more proac­tive and help the land become more resilient,” he added.

In the south, Darmmess work­ers man­aged to com­plete the har­vest despite the insta­bil­ity. ​“We had a small har­vest, about 60 per­cent of what I hoped for,” Bechara Perini said. She is expand­ing oper­a­tions through new agree­ments with nearby grow­ers, aim­ing to help them pro­duce high-qual­ity oil while Darmmess over­sees mar­ket­ing and sales.

Amid wors­en­ing con­di­tions, Lebanese pro­duc­ers and traders recently announced the for­ma­tion of a new Central Committee for Olives and Olive Oil at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The com­mit­tee urged author­i­ties to strengthen over­sight against adul­ter­ation and fraud, increase penal­ties and uphold strict lim­i­ta­tions on those involved in illicit prac­tices. Members also backed a full ban on olive oil imports to pro­tect local pro­duc­ers.

Under cur­rent Ministry of Agriculture reg­u­la­tions, all olive oil imports require prior autho­riza­tion. Combined with reduced pro­duc­tion, this pol­icy has dri­ven prices sharply upward. A tin of olive oil now sells for $180 – $250, com­pared with under $100 a year ago.

The com­mit­tee also urged swift action against Xylella fas­tidiosa, which is believed to be present in Lebanon but not yet wide­spread. Members called for a ban on imports of orna­men­tal olive saplings and plant mate­ri­als from affected coun­tries.

“All that is hap­pen­ing to the south­ern olive groves breaks my heart,” Arsanios said. ​“If this were hap­pen­ing to us in the north, I think I would feel com­pletely destroyed. I can only empathize with what they’re fac­ing, but I can’t truly grasp what they’re liv­ing through. It’s dev­as­tat­ing, and very sad.”

Growers say that if sta­bil­ity returns, sev­eral trends could help the sec­tor recover. Expanding solar energy could lower pro­duc­tion costs, new part­ner­ships like those at Darmmess may help small grow­ers improve qual­ity and mar­ket access, and global demand for high-qual­ity olive oil con­tin­ues to rise.