Nuseirat, Gaza Strip – Mohammad al-Halabi, ۵۰, bends over tomato and eggplant seedlings in a ۳۰۰-square-metre plot in the middle of central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, inspecting the leaves, watering the plants and monitoring their growth.
The small plot he is tending is an attempt to reclaim his old profession as a farmer with his father, Marwan, on their land in northern Gaza’s Jabalia.
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Al-Halabi once owned a much bigger plot of farmland – around ۴۰,۰۰۰ square metres (about ۱۰ acres) – in northern Gaza, where he grew strawberries, tomatoes, flowers, potatoes and eggplants. His four children – Mahmoud, ۳۰, Reham, ۲۷, Issa, ۲۴, and Omar, ۲۰ – also worked with him and relied on farming as a source of income for the family.
“I have been working in agriculture since I was a child,” al-Halabi said. “The land is my life, and I have spent my whole life farming it.”
Al-Halabi says his entire farmland was bulldozed in February ۲۰۲۴ by Israeli forces, as part of their general destruction of Jabalia. Al-Halabi’s land there is now covered with rubble and remnants of war, including what he described as remnants of missiles and other weapons.
He believes it will require extensive rehabilitation work before it can be farmed again.
So, for now, al-Halabi’s focus is on his small plot in Nuseirat, which he began renting at the start of the war, after his displacement. He began growing whatever he could obtain.
“Agriculture is my profession,” al-Halabi said. “Even after being displaced, I couldn’t leave it. I found a small piece of land and planted whatever I could get.”
The plot produces only a few kilogrammes of each crop he grows, barely enough for his family, and is too small to generate enough produce for sale.
“When I see the plant growing and producing a fruit, I feel that I can still farm,” al-Halabi said. “The land is small, but it has potential, and hopefully it will produce a crop.”
Mohammad al-Halabi tends to the young plants that he grows in Gaza [Eman Abu Zayed/Al Jazeera]Land destroyed
Data from Gaza’s Government Media Office illustrates the scale of the damage to the agricultural sector.
More than ۸۷ percent of Gaza’s agricultural land has been destroyed. About ۸,۷۰۰ agricultural wells have also been destroyed and put out of service, while ۷,۷۴۸ cattle, sheep and poultry farms have been destroyed. More than ۸۷ percent of greenhouses have also been damaged. Annual vegetable and fruit production has fallen from about ۵۲۴,۰۰۰ tonnes to approximately ۲۰,۰۰۰.
Naser Deeb, director-general of the Agricultural Extension at Gaza’s Ministry of Agriculture, says the damage extends beyond crops to farmland, water sources, irrigation networks, wells and agricultural facilities. Deeb says he has visited and assessed several damaged agricultural sites across Gaza, though he did not inspect al-Halabi’s land.
Deeb said damaged farmland would need extensive rehabilitation before production could resume.
“Farmers today are facing several problems at the same time,” Deeb says. “Even if a farmer returns to his land, that does not mean the land is ready for cultivation. The soil needs to be rehabilitated, water sources and irrigation systems repaired, and seeds, fertilisers and equipment provided.”
And the impact of these issues, Deeb says, is affecting farming families and markets across Gaza, reducing the availability of fresh vegetables and making it harder for farmers to restore their livelihoods.
New farm
Some farmers are trying to rebuild through small-scale projects.
Mohammad Abdul Naser Hassan al-Jadba, ۴۰, from Sheikh Ajleen in Gaza City, lost his source of income during the war after his farmland ended up on the wrong side of the “Yellow Line”, the boundary in Gaza behind which Israeli forces operate and control.
Israeli soldiers have killed Palestinians who have strayed too close to the line, and al-Jadba knows that it is too dangerous for him to even try to access his farmland. Instead, he resigned himself to renting a small plot in Deir el-Balah, where he has established a nursery and greenhouse to grow tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.
Al-Jadba received some funding from a Belgian development fund, which he used to build the greenhouse and obtain agricultural supplies.
“Before renting the farm, my income was zero,” al-Jadba said. “Today, I can support my family, and my monthly income has reached around ۳,۰۰۰ shekels [$۱,۰۱۵] a month.”
He has also been able to employ two farmers on a permanent basis inside the greenhouse. Both had previously been unemployed.
“For me, this project was not just agricultural support,” al-Jadba said. “It was a real opportunity to return to work, regain my source of income and become self-reliant again.”
