Following the first Mashreq sub-regional workshop with the main theme Good Agricultural Practices, the Egyptian and Lebanese think tank agreed in the second workshop to focus the discussion on the “Short channel distribution and marketing of agricultural products”. This workshop was organised in collaboration with the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture, on the 2nd and 3rd of June 2016 in Beirut, Lebanon.

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It involved the members of the Egyptian and Lebanese think tanks, which are mainly composed of representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, the private and public sectors, NGOs, syndicates and unions, researchers and professors, making a total of 46 participants.

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During the first sequence of the seminar, the two think tanks presented the work done during the previous year on good agricultural practices for Lebanon and agriculture extension system for Egypt, detailing the methodology of the work and activities achieved.

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The Lebanese think tank summed up their work and methodology on the implementation of good agricultural practices in six production chains thanks to a common framework co-created with the ESSP team. To have a clearer view on the organisation of the production chains, an organisational and institutional action plan was established by defining all the actors involved in each production chain and understanding the relation between them, to identify the weak links and outline activities that will help in improving them.

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For the past year, the Egyptian think tank defined agriculture extension system as its priority theme and wished to work on possible ways of reforming it. The methodology followed was presented, based on a diagnosis of the current agricultural extension system organised around three main points: the institutional and organisational forms, alternative funding entities and new functions of the agriculture extension system (taking into account the challenges facing the agriculture sector in Egypt). Once the diagnosis was established, three scenarios were developed as possibilities of reforming the agriculture extension system. A study is currently underway to further deepen and complete the diagnosis, as well as the proposed scenarios.

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After the presentation of these overviews, the participants focused the work and discussion for the second sequence on the main topic of the workshop: “Short channel distribution and marketing of agricultural products”. This theme came into context during the workshops and meetings that were held in the two countries. In Egypt, throughout the debates and discussions of the think tank on the agricultural extension system, different ideas emerged concerning its new functions and objectives as well as the issues on marketing of agricultural products. Notably, there was emphasis on smallholders and the necessity to support them. As for Lebanon, it became apparent in the workshops that good agricultural practices could be a driver to restore the link between producers and consumers. And this would encourage farmers and producers to adopt good agricultural practices.

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To introduce this issue, Dr. Tahani Abdelhakim (CIHEAM-IAMM) made an exposition on short channel distribution notably to inform the participants of the establishment and functioning of short channel distribution in the European Union and more specifically in France, as well as its advantages and disadvantages.

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Representatives of the two involved countries presented their experience concerning this issue. The Egyptian experience was represented by the activities and projects of the Coptic Evangelical Organisation for Social Services (CEOSS). Their agricultural programmes were mainly focused on product marketing and improving animal and fish wealth, and they are mostly localised in rural areas in Egypt, working with small-scale farmers.

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The Lebanese experience consisted of an overview on the local markets in the Arab world and the multitude of actors involved in production chains. The presentation provided case studies from Lebanon and Jordan on short chain markets and actions that were done to support local producers. There was also a brief preview of a project in Jordan specific to the role of women in agriculture in terms of improving current production, post-harvest and marketing methods.

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Finally, the third sequence revolved around the prospective for the upcoming year and activities to follow. The Lebanese and Egyptian partners have expressed their wishes to move forward on the themes of the past year, with a main objective of establishing support programmes. Following which proposals will be submitted to the technical and financial partners for further development and possibilities of implementing these support programmes.

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With the Egyptian partners, the idea is to test the scenarios on the field and determine their acceptability by the farmers. The main goals are to advocate the scenarios to the stakeholders, so that the future ESSP activities will focus on presenting the scenarios at the Ministry of Agriculture and affiliated structures, as well as organising workshops with stakeholders from different structures, to debate around the scenarios which will help in deepening and improving them.

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For the Lebanese partners and in order to have tangible results, a roadmap should be established on how to apply good agricultural practices, concerning all the subjects and themes evoked. A committee could be established to survey and continue the work done so far and to eventually develop a National Action Plan on good agricultural practices.

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On an end note, the Lebanese and Egyptian participants have underlined the benefits of the sub-regional discussions and exchanges and have come up with a series of propositions (as common ground):

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• The possibility of launching a “bank of knowledge”, which will allow us to accumulate all the different experiences conducted by both countries as well as to regroup and organise the information and knowledge accumulated specifically concerning the work methodology, activities and outputs of ESSP so that it will be easily accessible to all stakeholders;

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• As there is an existing committee between the Ministry of Agriculture of Lebanon and Egypt that meet once per year, the Egyptian focal point proposed to establish an ESSP note to present to the committee. The note will contain all the themes and activities of both countries, in order to inform the committee of the ESSP activities and encourage them to include ESSP in their dynamics;

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• A proposition to support the exchanges between Mashreq and Maghreb was discussed and it would be included under the activities of the ESSP committee to stay up-to-date and informed of the Maghreb and Mashreq dynamics;

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• 4. The possibility of organising a seminar to present and communicate on the activities of ESSP in both countries, in hopes of attracting a large public of different actors, and technical and financial partners, not only from Europe but also from the Arab countries.