Economic sustainability of dry land use: The case study of Irsal, Lebanon

Sustainable agriculture is the development of technology and practices that maintain the production of a safe: nutritious food that is sustainable at a long term both economically and physically. In Lebanon, sustainable agric ulture is still a new approach due to the impact of the civil war on this s ector leading to the degradation of natural resources. The main objective o f this paper is to study the economic sustainability of a transition from a traditional agropastural system to a rainfed fruit production system in th e dry land of Irsal, northeast of Lebanon. Economic and financial analyses for livestock and cherry productions were conducted under different operati onal scale (small, medium, and large) to estimate systems profitability, an d thus justify the economic motivation for such changes. The cherry crop wa s used in this study since it is the most dominant crop in the current chan ges that are taking place. The results indicate that, the transition from t he agropastoral system to fruit production is justifiable given the economi c motivations and the increase in the returns due to such changes. Fruit tr ee production is more profitable and less demanding for time and labor as c ompared to the old system. However, the continuous existence of the ruminan t flocks is due to the fact that they represent a cash stock that can be li quidated in times of need. (C) 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All right re served.