Throughout the eastern and northern regions of the Gaza Strip, agricultural lands are turning into extremely dangerous areas, where farmers continue to work in exceptionally risky conditions, trying to preserve their livelihoods, despite the constant threat.Farmers are forced to work on their lands near the border, amidst the sound of bullets fired by the Israeli occupation army from time to time.Accessing the land becomes a risk no less than losing it, yet many cling to their land, considering that leaving it means losing their livelihood and their identity at the same time.Faced with the difficulty of accessing some lands, farmers resorted to alternative solutions, such as intensifying agriculture in nearby and relatively safe areas, and using simple irrigation methods to compensate for the damage to the infrastructure.There were also attempts to take advantage of every available inch, even within residential areas, in order to compensate for the losses caused by the Israeli war of genocide on the sector during two full years.The risks are not limited to the field only, but farmers face intertwined crises, most notably the shortage of agricultural inputs and their high prices, and the difficulty of selling products in the markets, which makes every agricultural season an adventure with uncertain results, but it remains necessary for survival.
Numerous risksBefore the war, farmer Ahmed Al-Adham used to cultivate his land, located east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, with various crops such as wheat, olives, green beans, potatoes, and others. But now he cannot approach his land, after it became within the boundaries of what is known as the “yellow line” in northern Gaza.Al-Adham told Safa News Agency: “During the war, the occupation army bulldozed my land, which is 6 dunams in size, in addition to a large number of surrounding lands, which we used to rent for farming, so we were displaced at the beginning of the aggression, leaving behind a ripe crop that was completely bulldozed.”He adds, “When we left our lands without anything, we left behind irrigation networks, water channels, pipes and hoses worth hundreds of shekels, all of which were a loss for us during the harvest seasons that were absent from the sector.””This destruction of agricultural lands along the eastern border of the sector has affected the supply of vegetables and fruits, leading to reliance on imported produce and purchasing it despite its high price.”He points out that he resorted to cultivating a plot of land next to his destroyed house, no more than 150 meters in size, in an attempt to restore some of the agricultural life that the sector has lost.For the farmer Al-Adham, returning to agriculture is a battle that begins with providing seeds, irrigation pipes, and greenhouses, which are not available, and if they are available, they are at very high prices.Al-Adham adds, “Despite my land being bulldozed more than five times during previous wars, I returned to cultivate it each time. This is a profession I inherited from my father and passed on to my children, and we can never abandon it.”
Hold on to the groundFarmer Khalil Maarouf is also determined to cultivate his land near the “yellow line” in the northern Gaza Strip, in a message of defiance to the occupation and insistence on holding onto the land and not giving it up.Marouf told Safa News Agency: “I go with my sons and a number of my relatives from time to time to check on the land and irrigate the parsley crop, but we are not safe from harassment by the occupation army and the firing of bullets from quadcopter marches.”He adds, “Despite the danger, we are trying to revive the agricultural life that we lost during the two years of war. Although the cost of farming is high, this may help revive the market and reduce prices for the citizen.”
War lossesEconomic expert Ahmed Abu Qamar confirms that agricultural production in 2022 achieved a value of $575 million, representing 11% of the total GDP, and provided thousands of job opportunities in the sector.Abu Qamar told Safa News Agency that agricultural production has collapsed to less than 13% due to the war, with farmers losing more than $500 million so far, due to the occupation’s policies and its bulldozing of agricultural lands in the sector.He points out that before the war, the Gaza Strip had achieved 115% self-sufficiency in vegetables and was exporting the surplus abroad.Now, the food gap has reached over 85%, and prices have skyrocketed, to the point that vegetables, once a staple, have become a scarce commodity, according to Abu Qamar.He explains that the area of agricultural land is about 180,000 dunams, which is about half of the area of the sector, and is concentrated in the north, south and east of the sector, and unfortunately it is under the control of the occupation, while the cultivated land now amounts to less than 5%.According to Abu Qamar, the Al-Mawasi area in the western part of the Gaza Strip, which used to be the last cultivated land, has now become a crowded shelter for more than one million citizens. Gaza farmers, Gaza war of extermination , dangers to agricultural lands
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