A revolutionary new program in the West Bank town of Kalkilya could be the start of a significant peace in the Middle East, based on co-operative strawberry farming.
Previously known for being a terrorist capital, Kalkilya is being transformed into a centre for peaceful farming.
Israeli agriculture advisers have been training Palestinian farmers in cultivating strawberries for the past few months. The project, sponsored by the Flemish Foreign Ministry and facilitated by the Peres Centre for Peace, has supplied farming equipment including nylon netting and pesticides, as well as training, to Palestinian farmers.
The first crop of strawberries is almost ready to be exported to Europe for the lucrative Christmas market.
According to the Director of Agriculture at the Water and Environment Department of the Peres Center for Peace, Oren Blonder, the project is based in the premise that the only true solution for peace will be an equal, two-state solution, and to attain this, it will be necessary to strengthen the Palestinian economy.
Strawberries were selected for the project because they are not only a high value cash crop, strawberries have not been commercially grown in the West Bank before, and it is hoped the introduction will lead to a new, flourishing industry. Another benefit is that market research has shown that Palestinian strawberry production will not harm the already-saturated Israeli strawberry market.
Various potential buyers are already considering the Palestinian strawberries, including several ice cream manufacturers such as Ben’n’Jerry’s Ice Cream Company and other industrial markets.
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