BEIRUT, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- In a remote field in southern Lebanon, 60-year-old farmer Salem Abdallah kneeled beside his cracked, dry soil, running his fingers through the dust. He looked up at the sky, searching for any sign of rain, but the clouds remained absent.

"This year, the earth has turned against us," he sighed, "At this point, all we can do is pray," he added.

Like thousands of farmers across Leb