Displaced Gaza farmers turn to dirt near tents to grow crops
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- Israel has destroyed more than 94% of Gaza's 178,000 dunams of agricultural land since October 2023, collapsing annual production from 405,000 tonnes to 28,000 tonnes, according to Gaza's Government Media Office.
- Displaced Palestinian farmers are growing tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and molokhia greens in small patches of dirt around their tents, driven by soaring food prices and the near-total destruction of accessible farmland.
- FAO experts Fadel El-Zubi and deputy director general Beth Bechdol warned that the systematic destruction of wells, irrigation networks, crop stores, and perennial trees constitutes deliberate targeting of Gaza's food system designed to create permanent aid dependency, not collateral damage.
- Up to 4 million fruit trees have been uprooted — including 1.6 million olive trees that will take decades to replace — while 87% of agricultural wells and 85% of greenhouses have been damaged or destroyed, with direct agricultural and livestock losses estimated at $2.8 billion.
- The Israeli military's "Yellow Line" designation has rendered large swathes of farmland inaccessible to Palestinians due to artillery fire, making trips to former farmlands what the article describes as a death sentence.
- The FAO's $75 million appeal to support Gaza's farmers with seeds, animal feed, and irrigation equipment has received less than 10% of needed funding, which El-Zubi attributed to shifting international donor priorities.
- Before October 2023, agriculture accounted for about 10% of Gaza's economy and supported more than 560,000 people, but cultivated areas have fallen to less than 15% of normal productive capacity, according to Gaza's Ministry of Agriculture.
Why it matters: For Gaza's displaced farmers, the destruction is near-total: 4 million fruit trees uprooted, 87% of wells destroyed, and $2.8 billion in agricultural losses mean rebuilding takes decades. With less than 10% of the FAO's $75 million appeal funded, a sector that once supported 560,000 people has been replaced by aid dependency, according to UN food security experts.
