The First Secretary of the Economic Affairs at the Netherlands Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority Conducts a Field Visit to “Land and Water Resource Management for Agriculture Development in the West Bank” (LWRM) Project
Ramallah and East Jerusalem, January 2015: The First Secretary of the Economic Affairs at the NRO Mr. Wijnand Marchal conducted a field visit to Halhul, Ash shuyukh, Bani Na’imand and Adh Dhahiriya Villages – Hebron Governorate where land reclamation of 1,500 dunums, opening of 150 Km of agricultural roads, 1,100 dunums of water harvesting & deep rooting techniques pilot project and 2,000 dunums of climate change – watershed management pilot project are ongoing activities at Hebron Governorate under the project ”Land and Water Resource Management for Agriculture Development in the West Bank.” The project is 3.5 years duration funded by the Netherlands Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority with a total budget of 10 million USD, and implemented in 8 clusters including 46 localities in West Bank. The project is managed by the Project Management Unit (PMU), and implemented through a consortium of four Palestinian NGOs: Union of Agricultural Work Committees – UAWC – is lead member of the consortium, Palestinian Hydrology Group – PHG, Land Research Center – LRC, and Economic and Social Development Center – ESDC.
The LWRM project aims to improve the food security and reduce poverty in vulnerable rural areas through comprehensive development of available agricultural sources including land, water and human capacity. The project will develop 3,000 dunums of non-utilized agricultural large area lands at the farming community or village level, and these 3,000 dunums of land will be made arable via construction of 59 communal cisterns for the farmers in the selected cluster and maintained for sustainability by trained cooperatives/collectives/farmer groups. Also 250 Km of agricultural roads will be opened to provide access to owners of 33,750 dunums of already developed lands in addition to the newly developed 3,000dunums. The LWRM project will enhance water supplies and optimal irrigation water use for improved agricultural production through installing water networks and constructing steel balance water tanks of capacities 1000m3 & 500m3 and pilot projects. Moreover; the project will empower women to enhance their involvement in land development and agriculture and ease their access to inheritance law and rights. In addition to that; LWRM project will build the capacity of CBOs and cooperatives to better manage their water resources and market their products.
During the field visit the First Secretary of the Economic Affairs met with group of beneficiaries, farmers’ committee, members of villages’ councils at Halhul, Ash shuyukh, Bani Na’imand and Adh Dhahiriya who expressed their appreciations and gratitude to the Netherland people and government for their generous support to the Palestinian farmers. Also the First Secretary of the Economic Affairs at NRO discussed with the community representatives and beneficiaries the project details and the added value of these interventions which will contribute in enhancing the food security of the Palestinian farmers in these vulnerable communities; “and the Netherland government is pleased to provide this support and will be happy to come back later and see the fruitful of their support to the Palestinian farmers.”
The Senior Project Manager of LWRM project and head of the PMU Dr. Mohammad Awad mentioned the importance of this project to the Palestinian farmers and Palestinian economy, where a project of this size will definitely change the lives of 13,301 direct beneficiaries & 154,357 indirect beneficiaries and will reduce level of poverty among the farmers.