Imad Rajabi – Palestine Economy Portal

Translated by Tamara Barakat

Ahmad Zakarneh, the financial and administrative manager at the Ministry of Agriculture, said on Wednesday that the percentage of funds embarked by the Government for the Ministry of Agriculture does not exceed over 1%, remaining unchanged from last year’s percentage.

He told the Palestine Economy Portal that this year’s operating costs are  95 million shekels, part of which cover the salaries of 700 employees. Moreover, 23 million shekels out of 350 million shekels are designated for development projects.

He explained that the operating expenses of the Ministry of Agriculture are much lower than those of other ministries, but the problem lies in the fact that the Government’s budget does not provide any support to development projects that contribute to development, increasing the employment rate, and supporting farmers.

Based on the numbers that remain unchanged from last year’s, Zakarneh thinks it will be difficult to change this reality during 2016. “Development expenditure is low and this makes it difficult to solve the problem of agricultural development. There should be more financial support for the agricultural sector.”

He added that the Ministry will apply the same approach to cover the deficit in its development budget, and that involves seeking the financial support of funders for development projects.

According to the data of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the contribution of the agricultural sector to the GDP declined to 3.8% in the first quarter of 2015, while it contributed with 4.5% to the GDP in the same period in 2013.