Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

place.” 237 Assessing the monetary economic impact is difficult, given the numerous
factors that go into this calculation. Farmers, however, will certainly feel the effects
of the war for a long time.
As already described, some farmers decided that the hardship of losing the 2006
crop outweighed the danger of working amidst unexploded submunitions. The head
of municipality for Yohmor, where 60 percent of the population works in agriculture,
was among those who chose to work in his olive grove despite the risk of stumbling
across unexploded clusters in his field. “I’m scared, but I want to work it. I lost
money,” he said. 238 For the farmers who avoided their fields because of cluster
munitions, however, the price of safety was the 2006 harvest.
The leftover submunitions were particularly problematic for olive farmers, who
usually harvest the annual crop in the fall months. In November 2006, UNDP
estimated that duds contaminated around 4.7 square kilometers of olive groves. 239
The olive crop typically alternates between a good crop one year and a bad crop the
next; the 2006 harvest was expected to be the good crop. “We can’t work. We lost
the season,” said `Ali Muhammad Mansour, the mukhtar of `Aitaroun, where 90
percent of the population works in agriculture. 240 “We want to be able to work the
new season. People are scared to work.” The mukhtar of Majdel Selm told Human
Rights Watch that 50 percent of his village relies on agriculture, but given the
numerous cluster duds found in the fields, “We cannot work in the agriculture fields
because we are afraid.” 241 He estimated that it will be a year before the community
can return to the olive groves.
Tobacco farmers also faced devastation, unable to either harvest their crop in 2006
or plant for 2007. Tobacco is collected twice a year—once over the summer, and
once six months later. In 2006 submunitions prevented farmers from salvaging
237 Human Rights Watch interview with Allan Poston, chief technical advisor, National Demining Office, UNDP, Beirut,
November 29, 2006.
238 Human Rights Watch interview with Kasim M. `Aleik, head of Yohmor muncipality, Yohmor, October 26, 2006.
239 UNDP, “CBU Contamination by Land Use,” current as of November 29, 2006.
240 Human Rights Watch interview with `Ali Muhammad Mansour, mukhtar, `Aitaroun, October 27, 2006.
241 Human Rights Watch interview with Muhammad `Alaa Aldon, mukhtar, Majdel Selm, October 26, 2006.
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Human Rights Watch February 2008