HEBRON – Today, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations distributed financial grants to 230 farmers who benefited from the activity of rehabilitating unused lands in the Hebron Governorate. They rehabilitated and cultivated about 750 dunums of their lands with generous funding from the Canadian government.

This came in the presence of Minister Rizq Salimiya, Governor of Hebron Khaled Dudin, Director of the Project to Enhance Economic Growth through the Development of Agricultural Value Chains Nasr Samara, and landowners benefiting from the project.

Dudin welcomed Minister Salimiya, FAO, and the Directors General of the Directorates of Agriculture in Hebron Governorate, stressing the importance of these projects in preventing the occupation and its settlers from taking advantage of the opportunity. He also stressed that work in agriculture is important and requires concerted efforts to reclaim, rehabilitate, and rehabilitate lands so that we can produce our
own food and ensure our food security and preserve our national fabric. He thanked FAO, the main partner in the project, and the Canadian government. Dudin also praised the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and its staff in implementing development projects that generate income for farmers and contribute to stimulating the economy in the governorate.

In turn, Mr. Samara stressed that despite the challenges and obstacles, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations preferred to work and move forward towards implementing this vital project in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and with the support of the Canadian government, by providing financial grants to farmers through a modern and flexible mechanism that it will adopt in the future to reach the largest number of beneficiaries within the project.

For his part, Minister Salimiya referred to the pillars of the Palestinian government that work to enhance steadfastness and promote services, relief, transparency, institutional re
form, governance and reconstruction of Gaza, stressing that the Ministry of Agriculture has worked from the first moment to establish the slogan of sustainable development and farms first and our food is our production and our land must be reclaimed, rehabilitated and protected because the agricultural sector is the sector that absorbs crises, pointing out that the project is a continuation of the package of development projects implemented by the ministry in all parts of the country, stressing that this project came with generous support from the Canadian government and implemented by the FAO on the basis of strengthening and empowering farmers, the unemployed and those with limited income. It is worth noting that the overall project, which this activity comes to cover part of its activities, targets nearly 5,000 farmers in the governorates of “Jerusalem, Salfit, Nablus, Jenin and Hebron”, including nearly 2,000 farmers and livestock breeders in the Hebron governorate. It consists of multiple activities to s
upport economic growth and create job opportunities for citizens, and targets livestock breeders, plant production farmers, field schools, and support for agricultural associations.

Salimiya also noted that the Ministry is about to launch a number of agricultural initiatives aimed at developing, advancing and governing the agricultural sector with its partners soon.

Source: Maan News Agency