A number of AlBkei’a Valley farmers, to the east of Tubas, witnessed their watermelon crops being destroyed on Monday, by the Ministry of Agriculture, due to their invalidity for human consumption.

Tubas- Palestine Economy Portal | Emad Rajabi- According to farmers, the smuggling of Israeli watermelon to the West Bank markets, in addition to the failure of the authorities to take tough measures, have led into the worsening of the situation.

Nasser Abdul Razeq, one of the farmers who witnessed the destruction of their crops, said that the main reason behind the destruction of Palestinian watermelon is the smuggling of Israeli watermelon to the markets of the West Bank, as Israel is waging a fierce attack on the farmers to ensure the failure of watermelon production.

He explained that the fierce Israeli attack is waged for fear that farmers’ profits will increase from watermelon production, which would make them averse from growing “spring cucumber” that is exported to Israeli factories.

Three years ago, Palestine’s production of watermelon was zero; while there are about 2000 dunams cultivated with watermelon in the West Bank today, (one dunam is equal to 0.25 acres).

To damage Palestinian farmers, smugglers used to sell the box of Israeli watermelon for 50 NIS before Palestinian watermelon became invalid, while they sell it currently for 400 NIS, and make profit from it, said the farmers.

The Ministry of Agriculture forbids importing watermelon and other products at their marketing peak in order to encourage the local product. However, farmers said that by not punishing smugglers and holding them accountable, the ministry and specialized authorities have not taken action to the fullest regarding this issue.

Abdul Razeq pointed out a possible aversion from watermelon cultivation in the future, as the farmers are not compensated for their losses, “last year the same problem occurred and we were not compensated; therefore, many farmers reduced the area of watermelon cultivation this year. I have grown watermelon on only 200 dunams instead of 400 dunams like last year.”

The Ministry of Agriculture said they have destroyed 500 tons of watermelon, grown on 70 dunams of AlBkei’a lands, and that losses will be estimated later by a specialized committee.

Ahmed Abdul Wahhab, Director of Agricultural Directorate in Tubas, attributed the invalidity of the watermelon to the marketing season coinciding with the holy month of Ramadan, and therefore, the weak consumption. He also added that the heat wave hitting the country damaged a lot of crops and caused their invalidity.

He refused the accusations towards the ministry as falling short on their duties. However, he assured that they do face problems on monitoring “C” areas, which fall under Israeli administrative and security control, saying that some of the smugglers store watermelon in Israeli settlements, or in the “C” areas.

As for any possible compensations, Abdul Wahhab said that the new Minister of Agriculture, Soufian Sultan, had promised to study this subject in their meeting the day before.

The Issue of compensating famers is considered one of the biggest challenges facing the new Minister, especially with people’s aversion from agriculture because of its high risks. Will the new Minister be able to stand up for the farmers, or will he leave them face their problems alone?