© FAO Vegetable sorting in the West Bank. FAO will help Gaza farmers grow vegetables for 100 thousand people Economic Development
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is expanding its cash assistance program for farmers in the Gaza Strip. 1,500 farmers will receive support, each of whom will be able to cultivate about 0.1 hectares of land.
It is estimated that the harvest will be enough to meet the FAO and World Health Organization (WHO) annual vegetable consumption recommendations for approximately 100 thousand people.
Restarting production
“Farmers in the Gaza Strip are determined to resume food production on every piece of land available for cultivation, even as the space in which they can work is rapidly shrinking,” said Chiro, Head of the FAO Office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip Fiorillo.
Results from a recent pilot project showed that cash assistance allows farmers to purchase scarce and expensive inputs and immediately begin planting without waiting for the resumption of commercial imports of needed agricultural inputs, he said.
Pilot results project
The new program for the 2026 planting season is based on the results of a pilot project implemented in 2025. As part of this, FAO helped 200 families grow fresh vegetables.
Thanks to the pilot initiative, farmers cultivated at least 72 hectares of land and harvested more than a thousand tons of vegetables, including eggplants, hot peppers, tomatoes, zucchini and molochea. This harvest was enough to provide the recommended annual vegetable consumption for more than 13 thousand people. for cultivation of land, high cost and limited availability of agricultural resources.
As Fiorillo noted, one-time permits to import goods are not enough. Farmers, livestock breeders and fishermen must have constant access to land, sea, seeds, fertilizers, irrigation equipment, feed and veterinary drugs. Hatching eggs, boats and fishing gear are also needed to restore poultry and fisheries.
FAO called for allowing unimpeded entry of agricultural inputs into Gaza. First of all, he said, it is necessary to remove restrictions on at least goods that are not classified as dual-use products, and allow their import by local companies that specialized in supplying the food sector even before the conflict began.