The Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, in partnership with the CIHEAM-IAMM, organised the kick-off seminar of the ENPARD South Support Programme in Palestine on the 23rd of August 2016.

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In addition to officially launching the initiative in the seventh partner country, the main goals of the meeting was to present the various priority themes identified previously by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, other Palestinian Ministries and stakeholders of agriculture and rural development in Palestine after the preliminary meeting held in December 2015 and to introduce the ENPARD Palestine think tank[1].

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A priority cross-cutting issue was highlighted during these first exchanges: « How to take advantage of the privileged status granted by the European Union to Palestine in terms of exporting   agricultural products »?

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Over thirty agricultural and rural development stakeholders participated in this seminar from both Ministries concerned by these issues, universities and training institutes, agricultural professional organisations, international organisations and the private sector.

The conference was opened by Mr Abdullah LAHLUH, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Stephan SALAMA, Adviser to the prime Minister and Chairman of the Joint Palestinian European Union Committee, and by Pascal BERGERET, Director of CIHEAM-IAMM and ENPARD Palestine expert within the ENPARD South support programme team.

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Palestinian speakers emphasised in their presentations the importance of EU support in the current context of reduced international aid to Palestine and took this opportunity to warmly thank the European Union. They also stressed their will to increase agricultural exports, particularly to the European Union, thanks to the “no quota, no tariff” agreement signed with the European Union.

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Then Mr Tareq ABULABAN, Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture in charge of Agricultural Marketing and ENPARD Palestine Focal Point, presented the priority issues identified by the think tank. These priorities were divided in sub-themes to be discussed during the national workshops:

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1. Decreasing the cost of production and improving marketing

   1. Optimisation of water resources use in agriculture

   2. Increasing the competitiveness of different groups of products (to be defined by the think tank)

   3. Identifying strategic methods for deal with the consequences of the fragmentation of agricultural holdings

2. Improving the quality of agricultural products to facilitate marketing

   1. Compliance with private and public standards

   2. Strengthening the certification process

3. Rural development through regulation of domestic agricultural market and  the supply of domestic markets

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The participants also expressed different ideas and raised several points during the debate with the audience which followed:

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• Rural development should not be regarded solely as a question of agricultural production but should consider small industries and particularly the ones involved in the transformation and marketing of agricultural products;

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• Take advantage of the opportunity given by the ENPARD South initiative to discuss with other Mediterranean countries to exchange views and ideas on common challenges such as the marketing of olive oil in Tunisia or the strategies developed to better manage seasonality of production;

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• Cooperatives could play a crucial role to tackle these challenges and particularly the fragmentation of agricultural holdings;

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• Improve the export and investment environment in Palestine;

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• The necessity to start from farmers’ needs to elaborate the policies and laws on agriculture and improve their production environment and their living conditions.

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The Focal Point concluded these exchanges by pointing the different reasons for the difficulties in the marketing of Palestinian agricultural production in the European market (lack of knowledge of the European market and export culture, too much reliance on domestic market as an outlet for national production). He reasserted the importance of the development of exports to stabilise prices on the domestic market.

 

 

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[1] ENPARD Palestine think tank is composed of representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture departments (Agricultural Marketing, Agricultural Water, Agricultural Extension and Rural Development), of the National Agricultural Research Centre, of the Palestine Water Authority, of the National Farmers Union and of two agrifood enterprises.