Transalted by Sabrin Qadah
The Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECAR) signed a work agreement worth a total of $ 800,000 with the Federation of Agricultural Work Committees, on Thursday.

The agreement aims at implementing projects to support and develop food production capacity, encouraging agricultural production through marginalized families in Yatta south of Hebron and Qarawa Bani Zeid in Ramallah governorate, funded by the Arab Monetary Fund through the Islamic Development Bank.

The main objective of the project is to improve the economic situation of marginalized families, as well as to increase the cultivated area in Palestine, which contributes to improving the agricultural sector and improving the incomes of small farmers by improving productivity of agricultural assets and improving production inputs. It consists of several elements, the most important of which are: the reclamation of lands with an area of ​​200 acres, the construction of retaining walls and stone chains with a length of 15 thousand square meters, as well as the rehabilitation and drilling of 26 agricultural wells, the laying of agricultural roads with a length of 27 km, in addition to the distribution of seedlings to farmers and guiding them.

"The agreement aims to promote one of the most important elements of the economy, the land, at a time when the occupation is working to contain the factors of production and the confiscate land and water in order to expand its settlement program aimed at undermining the possibility of real development," said D. Mohammad Shtayyeh, the president of Pecdar.

He stressed that the advancement of the agricultural sector will preserve the land and water, and thus create an effective resistance component in the face of Israeli settlement, and the formation of a crane to end the occupation.

For his part, the Director General of the Federation of Agricultural work Committees, Fouad Abu Saif, said, "The project will enter into force immediately for a period of two years. It comes in line with the strategic objectives of the Union to stabilize the Palestinian farms on its land and support it by all means available in the face of the crimes of occupation represented by stealing Palestinian natural resources and settlement expansion at the expense of the Palestinian land ".