By: Firas Taweel

https://www.maan-ctr.org/magazine/article/3087/

Serious shortfall in the production of strategic crops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Exclusive to Environment and Development Horizons (Afaq magazine):

In a country under occupation, it is not possible to talk about a resistance economy and achieving sovereignty over food without reorienting to agriculture, on solid foundations that achieve the required development. This will block the path to the acquisition of more lands by the occupation. Government statements and plans about disengaging from the occupation remain mere slogans unless their results are reflected on the ground.

While the Palestinians marginalize this vital sector, we find that the Israeli occupation provides all the elements for the success of its agricultural sector.

Data proving the marginalization of Palestinian agriculture

The number of workers in the Palestinian agricultural sector in 2018 was about 51,500. 37,000 from the West Bank and 14,500 from Gaza Strip, while the number of workers in the agricultural sector in 2013 was about 82,700. 59,900 from the West Bank and 22,800 from Gaza Strip.

Number of workers in the agricultural sector

   Source: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

According to the report of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, “The Performance of the Palestinian Economy 2018” issued in May 2019, the low wages of workers in the agricultural sector has prompted them to abandon this sector.

The average daily wage in the agricultural sector in 2018 reached about 47 shekels, an average of 73 shekels for a worker in the West Bank and 21 shekels for a worker in Gaza Strip.

According to the same report, the contribution of agricultural activities to the Gross Domestic Product “GDP” was 4.8% in Gaza Strip compared to 2.6% in the West Bank, which is a low percentage compared to other sectors, especially the services and trade sectors. Noting that the contribution of the agricultural sector to the GDP amounted to about 36% in the mid-seventies, then decreased to 25% in the eighties, and in 1994 it declined to 13.4%, and this percentage continued to decline until it reached 3% in 2018, and this is shown through statistics Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

What agriculture sector ended up in the Palestinian territories was a natural result of the marginalization of this sector. Official figures indicate that the share of Palestinian agriculture in the general budget did not exceed 1% of the budgets of successive Palestinian governments. About 85% of the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture (1%) goes to employee salaries and operating expenses.

In 2014, for example, the ministry’s share of total expenditures in the Palestinian budget was about 0.7% ($27 million out of $3.860 billion).

As for the shares of the Ministries of Education and Health, they amounted to 18.7% and 13.3%, respectively ($722 million and $512 million). In contrast, the expenditures of the security sector amounted to 28% of the total expenditures in the general budget during 2014 (according to the data of the Ministry of Finance).

In the 2016 budget, which amounted to $4.25 billion, the security sector alone received 28% of the budget, while the agricultural sector was allocated 1%. This means that the agricultural sector has had a marginal amount in the development plans of Palestinian governments.

Agriculture is the path to liberation

“Whoever grabs your livelihood controls you and robs you of your own freedom, and only when your food is free can you achieve true independence in its liberating dimension from the consequences of the forces of colonialism represented by transcontinental companies that control seeds, fertilizers, agricultural chemical toxins and smart technology,” says agricultural engineer Saad Dagher.

Dagher calls on Palestinian governments to make agriculture at the top of their priorities, away from slogans that praise agriculture, farmers as the first line of defense for our land, our soil and our existence.

The great paradox, from Dagher’s point of view, is that we praise agriculture as the first line of defense for our land, starting with the leadership and ending with the smallest speaker in politics, while its share in the government budget is marginal, while the security services have the biggest share in the budgets.

In order to walk the path of a resistance economy, Dagher stresses that the calls to boycott Israeli goods must be accompanied by a much greater effort, with the aim of providing the ingredients for self-production of food and pushing young people towards agricultural work with all its components. He adds: "Just as there is no industrial development without an agricultural base, there is no real liberation without a production base for free food, which comes from free agriculture that is not bound by chains of companies for seeds, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. In order to achieve this, we must identify the gaps in food production, and thus direct energies to produce what is lacking in the local market, away from diverting awareness towards unsustainable agricultural projects.”

Sovereignty over food: the land is for those who cultivate it

Director of Research and Environmental Media Program at MA'AN Development Center, George Kurzom, agrees with the agricultural engineer Dagher, and believes that the goal of any local and national agricultural policy must be food self-sufficiency.

“In the sense that the country’s farmers must produce most of the food consumed locally.” This specific condition - according to Kurzom - is not covered by the concept of “food security” that countries, western industrial companies, and international financial and economic institutions have voluntarily mobilized in favor of monopolistic commercial interests in Europe and North America.

While representatives of the American food monopolies define "food security" as the ability to meet the food needs of a country, through domestic production or import.

The basis here, according to the imperialist concept, is import, which leads to the dumping of poor people's markets with subsidized and cheap western food commodities, thus eliminating national food production, as happened in many countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

In order to achieve the goal of food sovereignty, Kurzom demands that national food systems strive to produce healthy food of good quality and in harmony with local heritage and culture.

This means avoiding artificial junk food and the global food standards for processed foods, and it also means rejecting the trend of looking at the food as just another commodity or a component of the global agro-industries.

Translated by:  Rasha Abu Dayyeh