The main objective of the FPSC project “Improving food security in the Gaza Strip through the rehabilitation of agricultural land and greenhouses”, financed by the Generalitat Valenciana, is to contribute so that the population of the Gaza Strip – which, has the highest unemployment rate in the world, with 45% of general unemployment and 60% of youth unemployment – can realize their fundamental rights, including access to agricultural resources and food sovereignty, thus reducing their vulnerability and dependence on external aid.
The project has three main components. The first one – carried out during the first half-year of execution – has consisted in the rehabilitation of agricultural land that was damaged as a result of the last Israeli military offensive. To this end, the local counterpart of the FPSC, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), has tendered and acquired the materials required for the rehabilitation of the land, the selection and hiring of 48 unemployed workers (12 qualified and 36 unskilled), to the leveling and plowing of the land, as well as to the installation of the corresponding protection fence and irrigation systems for citrus and vegetable seedlings. At the moment, the 11 hectares rehabilitated are already being cultivated with citrus and vegetables.
The second component – implemented during the second semester – consists of the rehabilitation of 50 greenhouses. To this end, UAWC has tendered and purchased the materials required for the rehabilitation of greenhouses, the selection and hiring of 16 unemployed workers (8 qualified and 8 unskilled workers who will complete 400 working days) and the installation of irrigation systems. At the moment, the 50 rehabilitated greenhouses are already being cultivated with fruits and vegetables.
The third component of the project consists of two training courses for 5 UAWC agricultural experts in two modules – “Physiology of Citrus Cultivation” and “Localized Irrigation” – to be held at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) at the end of the next month of November.UAWC technicians traveling to Valencia for the face-to-face courses will transfer the new knowledge acquired at the UPV to the rest of the staff of the local FPSC counterpart, as well as the members of their local committees in the north of the Gaza Strip (locations of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lehia and Yabalia) involved in the project.
The training component aims to improve production techniques and training of workers, so that joint work on both land and greenhouse components contributes to training in new farming techniques, job consolidation, generation of employment and, as a consequence, the increase of their capacity of resilience. During the execution of the project activities, a total of 1,600 work days are created, which generates real job opportunities for 64 skilled and unskilled workers, contributing to the improvement of their precarious economic situation.
