World Vision supports food security in Palestinian villag

More than 1,300 people live in the village that is part of the West Ramallah Area Development Programme (ADP). Due to increasing poverty and child malnutrition in the Palestinian territories, the women of Ein Arik are utilizing their land to produce food for their families and generate additional income from surplus production.

Acting ADP Manager Ashraf Isayed says: 'Although Ein Arik was originally an agricultural village, the people in the past few decades have preferred to work as clerks and day labourers in nearby Ramallah and Israel, but after the outbreak of the Intifada the community started returning to agriculture as a source of income.'

Supplying Seedlings to the Farmers in Ein Arik is part of a series of projects that World Vision has embarked on to increase crop production in the four villages in the ADP. Last year it assisted 20 women in the village to establish small farms in their home gardens.

The women who have received the seedlings have undergone initial agricultural training and are planned to participate in a 20-hour-long training course on modern agricultural techniques such as use of organic pesticides and drip irrigation.

Sixty-six-year-old Ne'meh Abdallah is one of the women participating in the project. She lives with her extended family in a typical Palestinian stone house. Although three of Ne'meh's four children work, their pay is so low, the family cannot make ends meet.

Ne'meh's seven-year-old granddaughter Jocelyn helped her to plant their seeds.

'I have been a peasant all my life, and now I want to teach my grandchildren how to live off the land. This is part of our culture. The fifteen citrus seedlings, once they are fully grown, will help us generate some badly needed income to buy food,' she says.

The project also aims to empower women and improve their status in the largely patriarchal community.

Every woman had to contribute 32% of the cost, and will continue to receive agricultural advice from the ADP staff.

The ADP plans to rehabilitate 140 meters (459 feet) of open irrigation channels, build seven cisterns to enhance water storage capacity and establish seven more home gardens in the village. It will also asphalt an agricultural road to help the farmers transport and sell their produce.

According to the World Bank, more than 43% of all Palestinians live under the poverty rate of US$2.1/ day. One third of all Palestinian families do not have food security, and an additional 40% are vulnerable to food insecurity.

Source

About headlines and content that has changed after it was added to this site - see disclaimer here

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.