{"id":212655,"date":"2004-07-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=212655"},"modified":"2019-03-12T20:28:10","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:28:10","slug":"auto-insert-212655","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-212655\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy funds agricultural project in West Bank and Gaza Strip &#8211; FAO Press release"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:center;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong><u>ITALY PROVIDES $1.5 MILLION FOR UN AGRICULTURAL PROJECT IN WEST BANK, GAZA<\/u><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:center;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">(Reissued as received.)<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">Rome, 29 July (FAO) &#8212; Around 1,500 farming households in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will benefit from an agricultural pilot project over the next two years, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">The project will be implemented by FAO and funded by Italy with around $1.5 million. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">In spite of prevailing constraints, agriculture still plays a major economic and social role in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS), providing not only income and employment opportunities for a large share of the population in rural areas but also contributing significantly to food security. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">With rising poverty and unemployment, the food security situation in the WBGS has considerably deteriorated over the past three years. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">According to a recent FAO report, food insecurity is a reality for 1.4 million people (40 per cent of the population) and a near constant worry for an additional 1.1 million people (30 per cent) who are under threat of becoming food insecure, should prevailing conditions persist. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><u>Support for 12,000 People <\/u><\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&quot;While the political and economic situation remains volatile and unpredictable, the project will develop and test innovative approaches suitable for an urgently needed long-term rehabilitation of agriculture and will minimize the risk in terms of resource utilization&quot;,FAO said. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">Over the next two years, the project aims at supporting around 12,000 poor people in rural areas of Bethlehem, Hebron, Gaza and Tulkarm. &#160;The project will be carried out jointly by FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">&quot;Farmers and their families will directly benefit from improved skills, techniques and infrastructure provided by the project&quot;, FAO said. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">Project activities will include: &#160;replanting orchards with improved varieties; replacing greenhouses; installing irrigation systems and providing integrated pest-management equipment; planting of vegetables, fodder, olive and <\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">fruit trees; renovating animal sheds; rehabilitating rangeland through reseeding, fencing and constructing water points; establishing rainwater harvesting systems; and training the private and public sector in the proper management and sustainable use of inputs and natural resources. <\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">In the medium to longer term there should be increased investment in agriculture as it creates labour intensive employment, provides a variety of food for promoting dietary diversification, encourages women&#39;s participation in the development process and prevents further asset depletion and welfare dependency, FAO said.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:left;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">For further information, please, contact:&#160; Erwin Northoff, Information Officer FAO, e-mail:&#160; <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/mailto:erwin.northoff@fao.org\" style=\"color:#0000ff;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\"><u>erwin.northoff@fao.org<\/u><\/a><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">, tel.:&#160; +39 06 5705 3105; for radio interviews:&#160; Liliane Kambirigi, Radio Information Officer FAO, e-mail:&#160; <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/mailto:liliane.kambirigi@fao.org\" style=\"color:#0000ff;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\"><u>liliane.kambirigi@fao.org<\/u><\/a><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">, tel.:&#160; +39 06 570 53223.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:center;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>* *** *<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ITALY PROVIDES $1.5 MILLION FOR UN AGRICULTURAL PROJECT IN WEST BANK, GAZA (Reissued as received.) Rome, 29 July (FAO) &#8212; Around 1,500 farming households in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will benefit from an agricultural pilot project over the next two years, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today. The project will be implemented <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-212655\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[2761],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,5200],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-212655","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-food-and-agriculture-organization-fao","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-humanitarian-relief","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/212655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/212655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=212655"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=212655"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=212655"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=212655"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=212655"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=212655"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=212655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}