Local Seed and Organic Agriculture

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The Impact of the Globalization on Palestinian
Organic Farming Systems Prepared by Dr.
Thameen Hijawi, Technical Director of the Arab
Agronomist Association (AAA), Palestinian
Agricultural Relief Committee (PARC), Tel 00970
2 2963840, Email thameen_at_pal-arc.org
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Introduction

• The agricultural sector has been the backbone of
  the Palestinian economy traditionally .
• But the decrease of the agricultural sector's
  contribution to GDP are a result of
• The Israeli strategy of land expropriation for
  settlements
• Controlling of water resources.
• Israeli products flood the markets.
• The high remuneration of employment in Israel
  compared with the agricultural sector.
• The rapid growth in the services sector.

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Important facts about Agricultural Sector

• The agricultural sector still plays an important
  role for the domestic sector in providing
• 90 of white meat
• 91 of vegetables
• 61 of milk
• 35 of red meat and 35 of cereals

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• Olive is the major crop in the cultivated areas
  of the West Bank, constituting up to 25 of the
  gross agricultural income. Olive production
  provides the bulk of income for about 71,000
  families .
• The average total local consumption is about
  12,500 tons per year, and the surplus olive oil
  reached 23,300 tons.
• According to the statistics of 2002, olive trees
  cover about 881,000 dunum with a total production
  of about 153,000 tons of olives.

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Problems Facing Agriculture

• Scarcity of the resources.
• The extremely high protective tariffs on
  agricultural raw materials.
• Inadequate domestic policies for securing food
  supplies.
• land confiscation and restrictions, weak
  agricultural institutions, market constraints.
• lack of infrastructure and lack of planning and
  coordination.

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Problems Facing Agriculture

• Since the beginning of the second Intifada it
• is estimated that the Israeli army and
• settlers destroyed
• 169 water wells.
• 663 pools and water stores
• demolished 864.6 Hectares of irrigation networks
• The Israeli forces uprooted 675,830 olive and
  fruit trees of which 193,315 are olive trees.
• They confiscated 116.2 Hectares of land and
  bulldozed or burned 1,433.9 Hectares of land.

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Colonization Barrier
4 Phases
NORTH A and B Masha Zbuba Tayasir A
128 Km, B 57 Km
CENTER C Masha - Ramallah
SOUTH D Bethlehem-Hebron
EAST E Jordan Valley (Allon Road)
PALESTINIAN CANTONS 45 of West Bank Area
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• Main Facts
• The Wall in Phase one will be 145 Km long.
• 125 km for the Districts of Jenin, Qalqilia and
  Tulkarem (1,140 Hectare)
• (From Zbuba to Masha)
• and 20 km for the Jerusalem envelope (Northern
  and southern regions only).
• The Israeli plan calls for an additional depth
  barrier to the east of the main barrier (a deep
  trench with barbed wire fence)

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Organic Farming General Perspective

• Worldwide organic food sales in 2000 will
  likely exceed 20 billion, up from 10.5 billion
  in 1997. Furthermore, both here and abroad,
  average annual growth in organic food sales is
  expected to continue at a 20-25 percent pace
  through the end of the decade.
• So why is this need for organic farming?

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There is much evidence that organic can help
counteract such detrimental effects

• organic farming can help reduce ground and
  surface water contamination, and can safeguard
  drinking water supplies.
• Organically grown crops use less fossil energy
  than conventional crops
• Organic methods are as efficient, economical and
  financially competitive as conventional methods,
  and better for the soil and the environment

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• costs less than removing farm chemicals used in
  conventional agriculture from water supplies.
• nutrient-cycling microbes are more diverse,
  plentiful, and efficient in organic soil, making
  more nutrients available to plants. More microbes
  are known to improve soil structure
• "To add that much less fertilizer and still get
  80 of the conventional yields is outstanding,"
  says John Reganold, soil scientist at Washington
  State University, Pullman

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Channels for the marketing of the Palestinian
organic products - The local market , which
was and still the main consumer of olive oil
(12500 tons) yearly .- The Arab markets that
consume from 8000-10000 tons in the past to
reach 2500 tons in the last two years .
-International markets further attempts were
made to open new markets for olive oil in Europe
where the oil is filled in high quality half
liters bottles , the quantity exported in 2001
and 2002 reached 50 tons . - the Israeli
market olive oil exported to Israel mostly to
the Palestinians living their range from
1000-1500 tons per year which declined to 700
tons in 2002 .
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Globalization and Organic Agriculture in
Palestine

• Green Revolution Economic Development Programs.
• Agribusiness a system of economic and
  political relationships that organizes agro-food
  production from seedsto consumption (KM
  2001, 343).
• Supranational Organizations Export-led
  Agro-industrial Development
• UN
• WTO
• NAFTA
• FTAA
• EU
• ASEAN

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Globalization of Farming

• Why does Agriculture in developing countries is
  integrating more in External Markets?
• Globalization is deepening food insecurity the
  world over.
• The globalization of agriculture is in fact
  merely the corporatisation of agriculture
• is leading to new poverty for small farmers, as
  unequal and unfair contracts lock them into a new
  form of bondage.
• Democratising the food system implies the
  localisation rather than globalisation of
  agriculture

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• Democratising the food system implies the
  localisation rather than globalisation of
  agriculture
• Democratising the food system involves the
  democratic right of consumers to know what they
  eat
• Democratising the food system involves putting
  people and nature, not trade, at the centre of
  food and agricultural policy
• Democratising the food system involves
  involves organic farming systems.

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Is Organic Farming becoming the victim of its own
success?

• Until a decade ago, organic foods were available
  only through tiny farmers markets, health and
  natural food stores, but today their growing
  popularity means that more organic food is now
  sold by chain stores like Whole Foods
• Yet, in order to meet the increasing demand for
  organic food, production is increasing far beyond
  its original base
• water, animal treatment, labor standards and food
  miles (organic advocates want to reduce the
  distance that food travels from farm to consumer
  in order to reduce fossil fuel use and promote
  local sustainable development
• The organic standards are biased in favor of
  large corporations because they are size-neutral,
  that is they apply equally to an agribusiness
  giant and a small family farm

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Why are food systems changing?

• Rapid growth of cities and incomes
• Convergence in diets
• Concentration of food processing and retail trade

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The impact of changing food systems on small
farmers in developing countries

• Changes in food markets, fuelled by the rapid
  growth of cities and incomes, have major
  implications for the food security of millions of
  people who are neither urban nor affluent - the
  small farmers and landless labourers in rural
  areas who make up the vast majority of the
  world's chronically hungry population
• Opportunities and risks
• The globalization of supermarket procurement has
  created unprecedented opportunities for some
  farmers in developing countries .The rise of
  supermarkets in developing countries has created
  a domestic sector with centralized procurement
  and high-quality standards that has quickly
  outgrown the export market in most countries

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• Empowering small producers
• Smallholders who have succeeded as suppliers
  for supermarkets have generally overcome these
  obstacles by forging cooperatives or enrolling in
  outgrower schemes. Often they have benefited
  initially from information, training and
  start-up funds provided by public and private
  sector development initiatives.

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Inspection and certification
-Until 2003 there was no body for inspections
and certification for the organic agricultural in
Palestine PARCs team was trained in 2003 in the
center of organic Agriculture in Egypt ( COAE)-
PARC got the official use of the logo of this
center until they will establish the center of
organic Agriculture in Palestine next year . -
PARC and the ministry of Agricultural working to
fix the international standers to apply to
Palestinian organic farming products according to
the European commission and the IFOAM standards
in order to allow their export .
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• Thank You For Your Attention
• PARC and AAA