Israeli, Palestinian farmers to resume cooperation

Joint agricultural committees pick up again after 13 years, Agriculture Ministry officials to run workshops for Palestinians

By Naama Barak 15 September 2013, 9:30 pm

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Agriculture Ministry workers armed with pesticides have distributed both aerial and ground sprays in areas where millions of locusts descended upon southern Israel, beginning March 6, 2013. (photo credit: Dror Garti/Flash90)

Agricultural cooperation between farmers in Israel and the Palestinian Authority will resume after a 13-year hiatus, the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry said Sunday.

Agricultural cooperation between the two sides ceased when the Second Intifada broke out in 2000 and hasn’t resumed since.

Following a meeting between the ministry’s director, Rami Cohen, and his counterpart in the Palestinian Ministry of Environmental Affairs, the two sides decided to renew cooperation in numerous fields, such as veterinary training and flora protection, saying that diseases and pests know no borders and that improving Palestinian agriculture would benefit Israel, as well as raise the farming standards within the Palestinian Authority.

Prior to the 2000 Intifada, the two ministries cooperated on a number of agricultural committees, which will now resume their roles.

The ministry also decided to establish workshops where Israeli officials will instruct Palestinian farmers in various agricultural and economic fields such as the improvement of veterinarian services and the promotion of Palestinian agricultural export.

Israeli Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir lauded the move, saying that “the people of Israel and the Palestinian Authority will benefit from the strengthening economic ties, and there’s no doubt that agricultural cooperation will help relieve the regional tensions.”