As an annual tradition, Debbane for Modern Agriculture Iraq held its annual lunch in the participation of Debbane Agri Holding owners Messrs. Etienne and Fadi Debbane, the CEO John Fawaz and DEMA General Manager Mr. Bassem Al Amin and the presence of the employees from all the governorates of Iraq. The occasion was very special this year; it is the 20th anniversary of DEMA foundation in Iraq and the celebration of all the successes achieved during these years.

On the 29th of August, a field day was held at Ammiq Trial station – Bekaa. After several weeks of preparations and hard work, and with the Collaboration of the seeds, marketing, technical departments and Bekaa’s branch, this field day was a success for DEBBANE’s team and the visitors. Mr. Walid Yamout, DEBBANE’S FRERES General Manager, inaugurated the ceremony by warmly welcoming the visitors and wishing them a fruitful day. The engineers had a walk alongside the farmers in order to expose them to several new varieties and explain their main strong characteristics. They also had a look on the green houses cultivated with tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet and hot peppers and eggplants, as well as to the open field areas cultivated with cabbage, radish, cucurbit, tomato, eggplant... The farmers exchanged their evaluation on the different varieties available and on the memorable field day. Debbane Agri team strives, through its continuous efforts and team spirit to offer the best aiming to reach multinational companies’ level.

On April 22, 2018, the DEAL team organized a technical day for the promotion of the Westfrisian Tomato Belfast F1 variety, in the Ain Timouchent province in Ain Larbaa municipality. More than thirty-five farmers, seed farmers and representatives of the agricultural sector in the region attended this technical day. The variety has shown very good results, despite the salinity of the water, especially as regards its size, color, production, fruit set and the number of fruits per batch. This variety has proved once again that it has become an important part of the Algerian market and that its quality and position are well established.

Under the Patronage of the President of the Council of Ministers H.E. Mr. Saad Hariri and supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Berytech Lebanon organized the second Agrytech Hackathon on the weekend of April 20th, 2018. WHAT IS AGRYTECH HACKATHON? The Agrytech Hackathon is a fun and engaging 3-day event, that brings together makers, innovators, entrepreneurs and young professionals from various backgrounds. In 48 hours, teams work on a solution for a challenge in the agri-food sector, prototype it and then pitch it to a panel of judges to have the chance to win cash prizes as well as the chance to join the Agrytech Accelerator program. THE WINNERS AND THEIR CHALLENGES IO Tree, represented by Christina Chaccour and Nisrine El-Turky, coached by Debbane Agri Technical and Development Team, Ziad Ghanem and Gilbert Medawar won the first place and a prize of $6,500 at the Agrytech Hackathon 2018. IO Tree is a startup that designed a machine connected to a wireless sensor network that monitors the presence of the red fruit fly and inform the farmer when the best time to spray is. The team had a functioning prototype to demonstrate in front of the judges and audience and will now have the chance to take their startup and idea to the next level. Winning the first place allowed IO Tree team to be pre-selected to join the second edition of Berytech’s Accelerator Program that started on June 2018 for a period of 1 year giving the winners access to up to US$100K in support and grants. There were two winners for the second place, team Agry Mac with Abbass Al Hajj, Elie Said, Marc-Halim Matta, and Engema Succar – an application that will detect and/or predictillness in trees soil and plant and team Zaatine with Sarkis Khatecherian, Nshan Karoghinanian and Fadi El Hajj – a machine that solves the challenges of separating Zaatar leaves from the stem. They won a shared prize of $4,500 and are also pre-qualified to attend the boot camp part of the Agrytech Accelerator Program. We look forward to participating and supporting continuous innovative and brilliant ideas. We wish as well the Agrytech Accelerator Program participants especially IO Tree team coached by Debbane Agri Technical and Development Team the best of luck in their upcoming challenges.

March 7th, 2018: Debbane Company for Modern Atgriculture in Iraq, celebrates it’s nineteenth anniversary in the presence of Messrs. Etienne Debbana, Fady Debbane and John Fawaz along with Mr. Bassem Al Amin. They jointly praised and appreciated the efforts of the Iraqi team during the past year, recalling the renowned history of the company in Iraq over the past two decades and stressing on the adherence to Debbane Saikali company values and vision of developing the agricultural sector in Iraq and the remaining countries where the company is present. An enthusiastic family ambiance overwhelmed the ceremony that reflected the team spirit. Colleagues who joined the company more than 5 and 10 years ago, were honored, and efforts of brilliant employees were appreciated.

On the 1st of March 2018, Messrs. Raphael Debbane, Etienne Debbane, and John Fawaz, took part in the annual DEAL dinner with Mr. Toni Otayek and company employees. This dinner was an opportunity to celebrate the achievements for the year 2017, most notably: • Improvement of the financial situation • Treasury management with funding secured to cover procurement plans and programs. • Achieving 100% of sales projections with a 14% growth • Achieving a 40% increase in collection of outstanding payments • Achieving a 10% decrease in the company's debts • A 70-day drop in Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) • Migration to the ERP Navision system in less than four months • Obtaining import permits for 2000 tons of fertilizers As always, the visit was a real pleasure for all employees, and an opportunity to appreciate the development of the company and each of its members.