Trade & Export

Emkan is trying to reach new markets to sell local products (fruits & vegetables (directly from farmers), dairy products, processed and home-made products), this includes the support of household production, branding, quality control and marketing. This project is paired with an initiative to provide women working at home with ingredients, packaging and tools to produce high quality products, which will then be sold by Emkan on behalf of them.

In 2021, Emkan bought 10% of the apple yield in Fneideq and adjacent areas. This move was done to support farmers financially and break the exploitation cycle enforced by brokers as the apples were bought with a high price, therefore increasing the standard price and offering and alternative.

We faced four problems: 

A. A large amount of the product is visually undesirable (that is why we are: 1. initiating agro-processing, 2. finding new markets). 

B. The 3rd problem is ill-practices when it comes to picking up and storing of apples & fruits which results in damaging them (we are teaching farmers in best practices of picking, sorting and storing). 

C. Challenges in shipping 

D. Competitive prices from other countries.

Emkan owns Souk Akkar, the only wholesale market in the area (76 shops) for fruits and vegetables, which acts as portal for the second largest agricultural production area in Lebanon. This market helps sustain the development of both farmers and traders in the Northern region. This facility is great to source fruits and vegetables for the best prices (although we aim to directly source all products from farmers directly).

Emkan was successful in negotiating the opening and operation of Souk Tripoli after 5 years of closure. Souk Tripoli contains 187 wholesale institutions and is the biggest market in Lebanon.