Help Palestinian Farmers Grow & Export Their Crops

Dear donors and all others interested in supporting Palestinian agricultural communities of the West Bank,

We are happy to report that project activities have begun in partnership with the farmers' co-operative in the villages of Kardalah and Bardalah. 21 farmers have had their needs assessed: what are the barriers to them growing their export business? What kind of training is needed to improve the local export market? What kind of physical farming inputs do they require to reach maximum self-sufficiency?  

In response, 3 training workshops and 5 on-site seminars have been hosted, addressed gaps in education and skills. A quote from Mutaz, a farmer from Kardalah and a participant in the project, about the recent field study tour to Baqa Algharbia: "We arrived about 01:00 pm to the herbs farm. The owner welcomed us warmly also he give us a wide idea about the methods of agriculture and irrigation for mint, strawberry and celery. We got to discuss with the owner production and marketing, and exchange agriculture knowledge."

And from Mohammed, about another trip:

"We left Kardalah at about 7:00 am 7^th of March 2013 in the direction of packaging home in Hashorn area near Tel-Aviv. The work team of the home welcomed us warmly then the manger showed us the process of filtration, washing, drying, packaging and the storing inside cooling room (-22), then he introduced the history of establishment for this home, the scope of work in local and global markets, the season of work here and in South Africa, the types of fruits and vegetables that they process, also we tasted the appetizing farsamona. We got new information and discussed jointly the ways of upgrading."

With your continued support, can be extended to impact more farmers across a broader region of this conflicted area.

Thank you!

Dear Supporters of the "Help Palestinian Farmers Grow and Export Their Crops" project,

On behalf of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information, we are excited to announce the raising of $42,900 in additional funds from an American foundation. This brings our total funds raised to $48,137 USD.

We send sincere thanks to each of you on behalf of our organization and the farmer members of the Bardalah/Kardalah Farmers' Co-operative. We will initiate the project in early 2013 and hope to see the remaining funds trickle in... please share our project oage with your networks! Reaching our goal of $50,000 will allow more farmers to be involved in the project, providing them with training and support for the export of high-demand crops.

Please stay tuned to our Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/ipcri - for regular news and photos from the project.

All the best,

IPCRI

Links:

• Join us on Facebook!

Many thanks to everyone for their generous support.

We are currently working hard to secure additional resources over and above those which have been donated as a result of GlobalGiving, so as to be sure that we have sufficient funding to kick-start the project. Our project advisors are in constant touch with the members of the farmers' co-operative in Bardalah and all are looking forward to embarking on this project as soon as possible.

We are actively applying to external funding opportunities, but are also hoping to rally our Global Giving community and source the energy and passion of our network to support this important initiative. Please share our page with friends and colleagues to help us reach our goal!

Learn more about IPCRI's past success in building the capacity of Palestinian farmers (and about project advisor Dr. Adiri Hillel), at the news link attached.

Links:

• News brief: IPCRI Agriculture in Gaza Project