UAWC continues with its activities to improve the most profitable crops sector
Ramallah- the Union of Agricultural Work Committees continues its activities to improve the local products’ opportunities to reach the Arab and the international markets, and increase their competitive advantages within” Market Oriented and Sustainable High Value Crops Sector Development in the West Bank and Gaza Strip” project, which is funded by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO ) in partnership with Asala foundation and Mount of Olives company and under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture.
UAWC confirmed that the Palestinian agricultural sector suffers from obstacles to export agricultural products into other markets due to the difficulties on the crossing borders, in addition to an increase of traditional crops, which led to a surplus of these products in the local markets, which negatively affected their prices and increase competition, pointing out that the UAWC through this project succeeds to introduce new and unique crops to the region, which increase the local products’ competition opportunities.
The story of the Palestinian farmer, Mohammad Jada, is one example of the UAWC’s success, where the Israeli occupation confiscated a huge area from his land, which considers his only source of income, during to the construction of the apartheid wall.
Mohammad Al-Jada pointed out that he used to cultivate (tomato, cucumber, pepper, avocado, guava) on his land, but recently he has devoted his efforts to cultivate avocado and guava because of its high exportation opportunities, that’s why, he is very interested in the UAWC’s project.
He added that “the UAWC chose me to add new and unique agricultural crops in the region by the cultivation of crops that have not been previously cultivated in the West Bank such as Lecce, pomegranate, Mango,”..
Al-Jada stressed on the success of the UAWC’s project that enabled him to move from the cultivation of traditional crops to high-quality agricultural crops. Also, he stressed on the crucial role of the UAWC in enlightening them with new farming techniques in relation to ways for climate change adaptation.
It is important to note that the UAWC through its development projects aimed to improve the productivity for small farmers and increase their access to their lands, by enabling them to cultivate their isolated lands which located besides the Apartheid wall, providing them with production inputs, and establishing agricultural cooperatives.