Enviro News Asia, Jerusalem – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has expanded its conditional cash assistance program to support 1,500 small-scale farmers in the Gaza Strip, aiming to increase local food production and provide enough fresh vegetables to meet the recommended annual vegetable intake of approximately 100,000 people.
The initiative provides financial assistance to farmers on the condition that the funds are used to cultivate at least one dunum (0.1 hectare) of agricultural land. The program is funded by Belgium, the European Union, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and other FAO resource partners.
According to FAO, the expanded program builds on the success of a 2025 pilot project that assisted 200 farming households. During the pilot, participating farmers cultivated at least 720 dunums of farmland and produced an estimated 1,094 metric tons of fresh vegetables, including tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, hot peppers, and molokhia. The harvest was sufficient to meet the annual vegetable consumption needs of more than 13,000 people based on dietary recommendations from FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Ciro Fiorillo, Head of the FAO Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said farmers remain committed to restoring local food production despite increasingly limited agricultural land and difficult operating conditions. He noted that conditional cash assistance enables farmers to purchase scarce and costly agricultural inputs and begin planting immediately while awaiting the resumption of commercial imports.
FAO emphasized that the recovery of Gaza’s agrifood sector continues to face significant challenges, including limited access to farmland and shortages of affordable agricultural inputs.
Fiorillo said temporary approvals for humanitarian organizations and private companies to deliver farming supplies into Gaza are insufficient to support long-term recovery. He stressed that farmers, livestock producers, and fishers require reliable access to land, fishing areas, seeds, fertilizers, irrigation equipment, animal feed, veterinary supplies, fertilized eggs for poultry production, boats, and fishing gear.
He also called for the unrestricted entry of agricultural production inputs through commercial channels, arguing that local importers with established supply networks are best positioned to provide farmers with the necessary inputs at the appropriate time. According to FAO, easing restrictions on non-dual-use agricultural goods would help accelerate food production and strengthen food security across the Gaza Strip. (*)
