My Dear Colleagues,

There is no better way to start my word, but to build on, our Chairman, Mr. Etienne’s message of last week.  A message that further strengthened our trust & our loyalty into our group. A message that made us feel safer and protected by our big family, the Debbane family.

I can’t express enough how delightful and happy I am, and I thank god that you all & your families are safe from this dreadful virus, COVID-19, that turned into pandemic, hit the world and turned the lives of billions of people upside down.  For this end, I would like to seize this opportunity to thank all the leaders in our group, across all our operations and HQ, for putting in place the right protocols; and, of course, I thank you all for adhering to them, so you protected yourselves, your families and hence the group. Thank you!

We at Debbane Agri would like to extend our appreciation to our teams that have been at the front lines making sure that our business is sustained in these difficult times. The products and the services we offer are necessities to feed the world, and accordingly we have a huge responsibility towards the society. It is as important as saving people’s life.

In this uncertain time, the situation can feel scary, stressful and overwhelming to some of us.  This demands from all of us at Debbane Agri, to get more rooted to our core values driving our business since 1952:

Excellence, Integrity, Generosity, Respect, Team Unity and Perseverance.

Since that time, we have faced and seen many challenges, and have overcome them all.  TOGETHER, we will beat this one as well.

Now more than EVER, we need to be more perseverant and to work harder with positive energy, compassion, agility, and caring hearts. 

We are in this TOGETHER, Rest assured that we are and will be with you in every step of the way.

Coming Together is a beginning, keeping together is a progress, working together is success.

You are just doing GREAT

Keep on doing this GREAT job

Stay Positive

Stay Optimistic, for a bright tomorrow

Stay Safe

As part of its initiative to fight the coronavirus and driven by its belief in its crucial role in the fight against this pandemic, Debbane Agri conducted, under the slogan of “when humanity crosses all borders”, a sterilization procedure in all of the Roumieh prison facilities and the women’s prison in Dahr El Wahesh. The operation was run with the collaboration of practitioners and experts specialized in public health and the fight against pests and viruses. Debbane Agri would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of this initiative, in accordance with its slogan “Together for a better agriculture”, which, in this case, becomes “Together for better health”.

Whether to find a cure for an ongoing pandemic or to control a pest outbreak in the desert, the world had found itself again in the hands of scientists and research teams in continuous effort to provide the best solutions and technologies for our daily lives and agriculture practices.

Since the establishment of Debbane Freres, the company made sure that one of its main pillars would be the technical expertise of the team, backed with a technical department working on daily basis to provide customers with novel technologies and products to cope with the ongoing changes in the markets. This strategy proved itself efficient once again by providing the Public Health line, in a significantly short period, with a sanitizing product to be used do disinfect indoor and outdoor spaces against the ongoing CoV19- crisis: ATO QUAT.

ATO QUAT is a product based on quaternary ammonium (alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride 10 %) provided by ATOMES – Canada. Initially used to disinfect fruits and vegetables from all kings of bacteria, fungi and viruses, ATO QUAT is also used to cold sterilize medical equipment and kitchens. This is only possible due to the registration of the product under an official DIN ( Drug Identification Number) and the CFIA ( Canadian Food Inspection Agency ) food contact approval. Thus, ATO QUAT is safe to use in households and does not cause any allergies for people or damages to any type of fabric, unlike commonly used chlorine-based products.

Soon, Debbane Freres will be also providing the market with ATO QUAT 2 that has in it, added to quaternary ammonium, hydrogen peroxide which will increase the efficiency of the product and the protection period that it provides.

With its restless effort to develop its Seeds Portfolio, DF seeds team is cooperating with the TCEs & customers to test new products.

Seeds department is committed to select added-value vegetable seeds varieties in term of productivity, better resistance to disease, longer shelf life, and high fruit quality.

In this framework, DF Seeds product manager organized a Seminar for the South Branch Engineers covering two main topics:

1 - Vegetable seeds market study / Lebanon

2 - Segments, characteristics and types of main crops (Tomato, Cucumber, Pepper, Eggplant, Brassiceae, Leafy crops, Sweet corn, Radish, Carrot …).

This seminar was an opportunity to answer all queries and highlight the new brand DP Elite; in addition to the launching of new released varieties from multinational suppliers:

- Indeterminate Tomato: Alesandra (Cluster), Tomato Clarita, Tomato Sacha.

-Determinate Tomato: 777, Prince (Saladette)

-Cucumber: Rani (Spring), C2 (Winter)

-Lettuce: Lola

-Cauliflower: Bride

Furthermore, the discussions also covered market trends, competition’s varieties performance and how to improve market share.

Teamwork in addition to sharing best practices & knowledge remain the corner stone behind coming up with solutions that meet market needs. This translating the company slogan “together for a better agriculture”.

On January 30th 2020, the Honorable Austrian Consul in Lebanon, Sir Gerhard Staflinger, accompanied by Debbane Agri CEO Mr. John Fawaz conducted a Field visit to Debbane Freres Advanced Trial Station in the South Area of Lebanon.

The visit started with a stopover at Debbane Zahrani branch (offices and warehouses). Sir Staflinger was briefed on Debbane Agri’s main strategies in developing the Agri sector business in Lebanon.

The next stop was at Debbane Freres advanced Production & Trial Station in Adloun. The tour was an opportunity to elaborate to the honorable guest the various activities conducted at the site including production with Hydroponic technology, the Protected Bananas, the Mango and Grapes advanced projects, and other innovative initiatives that the company is testing for the Lebanese Market and the Region as well.

Sir Stafinger was pleased to have met Debbane Freres Management and Operations teams, who gave him the opportunity to be more acquainted to the Lebanese Agricultural community. Moreover, Sir Stafinger wished Debbane Agriculture all the best to keep its leading role in Agri sector.

At the end of the tour, Debbane Freres offered the Embassy’s garden a lemon tree as symbol of friendship and appreciation.

Within its effort to enrich the customer engagement and uplift the shopping experience, Debbane Freres has renovated its Zouk Branch. The new design is up to European standards, where it offers customers a unique shopping experience in an open space and fixtures made of ecofriendly and recyclable materials.

The new design allows better product merchandizing by business category i.e fertilizers, Pesticides, seeds and equipment; Displayed products are more visible and easier to reach. Moreover; clients are also privileged to benefit from the professional advice and assistance of Debbane Freres skilled engineers.

With Zouk Branch new look, Debbane Freres will be raising the Bar towards and new standards in the Agri Sector.