Israel damages cereal crops in Gaza

The Palestinian ministry of agriculture in Gaza warned last month of an Israeli plan to damage cereal crops in the Gaza Strip, mainly wheat and barley, a Middle East Monitor reporter said.

The reason behind this, the ministry said, is that the Israeli authorities want the Gaza Strip to remain a market for its products, including cereals.

Palestinian farmers in Gaza face the danger of Israeli army gunfire everyday. They also face difficulties as Israel has damaged a great deal of the irrigation networks and other agriculture infrastructure in the farms along the eastern borders of Gaza.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that this year’s cereal produce increased by 20 per cent compared to the last year due to the stability of weather temperature and the huge amount of rainwater.

It stated that about 23,000 dunams were planted with wheat and around 10,000 dunams were planted with barley, noting that the wheat produce is expected to be around 10,000 tons and barley at around 4,000 tons. This is about 6 per cent of the total cereal consumption in Gaza.

The ministry said that most of the cereal crops are planted along the eastern borders of Gaza, noting this makes their produce unstable due to the danger of the daily Israeli invasions on the farms in an attempt to reinforce the buffer zone.