by Sanaa Kamal
GAZA, Oct 1 (NNN-XINHUA) – Abdullah al-Najjar, a Palestinian farmer from the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, was forced to sell his harvest of guava fruit 30 percent lower than the original price.
The 36-year-old father of four told Xinhua that he lost his seasonal harvest as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the majority of sectors in the coastal enclave.
On Aug 24, the Hamas-ruled local authorities declared the first infections with COVID-19 and imposed a series of strict measures to curb the virus.
These moves included a full lock-down on all the governorates of the strip, ban on movement among them, and the shutting down of public institutions and private businesses.
Although the government, weeks ago, relaxed the precautionary and preventive measures, it was not enough for farmers to save their harvest of vegetables and fruits.
The unprecedented crisis put the young farmer in a critical situation, as he could not sell his harvest to other areas of the coastal enclave.
“I have taken care of my farms for more than six months, but I earned nothing,” the young man, who owns 10 dunams (10,000 square metres) of land complained.
He found himself facing the most challenging decision in his life that eventually led to selling his harvest at a much lower price to avoid further losses.
“The season is limited to two months only, to harvest guava. If I do not pick up the fruit, it will be spoiled and I will bear more losses,” al-Najjar said, looking at his farm.
In the past, before the outbreak of the virus, the farmer used to sell guava at 1.2 U.S. dollars per kg. However, he has lowered the price to 0.84 dollars now.
Raid Abu Assad is another farmer with a similar story.
The 42-year-old father of six from Dir Al Balah, farmed four dunams of tomatoes, in order to export them to Israel through the only commercial crossing, Kerem Shalom.
But the new situation destroyed his plans and incurred heavy losses.
“Because of the crisis, we were prohibited from exporting the vegetables and fruits to Israel and the West Bank,” Balah said. “Our crops were piled up and we were forced to sell them in local markets.”
Typically, each kg of tomatoes is sold for two dollars, especially in the summer season. Now, it is sold for 0.35 dollars only, according him.
For his part, Adham al-Basiouny, spokesman of the Hamas-run agriculture ministry, told Xinhua that the agriculture sector in the strip has lost hundreds of millions of dollars until now.
He added that the consequences of the new virus have hit about 1,080 dunams that are owned by more than 35,000 farmers.
However, both Najjar and Balah criticised the performance of the ministries of agriculture and economy, saying, they control the prices of the crops without providing any of the essential services.– NNN-XINHUA
