In Israel agriculture collateral victim of a year of war
The share of agricultural produce in GDP fell to 1%, down also the share of agricultural exports in the total, while the Palestinian and foreign labour force is in sharp decline
4' min read
4' min read
Agriculture has always been an important sector in Israel. Not so much for the numbers it generates, but for its social significance. Most of the communities present at the foundation of the state, kibutzim and moshav, were, and still are, created on agricultural models and engaged in activities in that sector.
The outbreak of the war against Hamas in Gaza with the group's own massacre in the kibbutzim in the south, Hezbollah's attack since 8 October last year on northern Israel where many farms insist, forced to evacuate, have created quite a few problems for the sector.
According to the World Bank, agricultural land in Israel amounted to 29.74% in 2021. More than 30% of its agricultural land is located in war zones: about 22% in the Takuma area (surrounding Gaza) and another 10% on the northern border, of which 7% in the Galilee and 3% in the Golan.
The share of agricultural products in GDP fell from 11% to 2.6% between 1950 and 2008, to around 1% last year, one of the worst since the state was founded, and the share of agricultural exports fell from 60% to less than 2% of the total. This, despite an absolute increase in annual exports from $20 million in 1950 to $1.2 billion in 2009 due to, among other things, the extensive introduction of innovative agricultural methods, modern irrigation and water treatment technologies, and export-oriented agriculture. The war caused a further loss of 150,000 tonnes of agricultural products in the first six months alone, worth about $178 million. Not to mention that the attack on farming communities in the south led to the killing of many workers in the sector, forcing others to return to their countries. The evacuation of communities in the north also forced many foreign workers in the sector to leave the country.
"There is a lot of tension here. All day long," Eyal Ovadia, a resident of Kibbutz Kabri in the north and chairman of a farmers' committee, told television, "there are attacks. Farmers in the north work under fire and risk their lives every day. But the farmers do not leave the plantations. It is scary here, but we will continue to protect our territories. The Thai workers, on the other hand, do not want to go into the fields. Agricultural areas are defined as open areas and there the rockets are not intercepted, they are dropped, so the danger is great. We want the army to keep attacking and by force, after a year, we are finally doing something'.
