Project profile — Supporting Economic Growth through Value Chain Development in the West Bank

• Palestine (100.00%)

• Agricultural land resources:
Agricultural land resources (31130) (10.00%)
Agricultural water resources (31140) (20.00%)
Agricultural inputs (31150) (20.00%)
Food crop production (31161) (25.00%)
Livestock (31163) (5.00%)
Agricultural co-operatives (31194) (20.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (significant objective)
• Climate Change Adaptation (significant objective)
• Desertification (significant objective)

The project aims to confront constraints faced in the agricultural community by providing smallholder producers of fruit and vegetables and livestock herders with the technical assistance required to lift them from subsistence operations that yield little or no profit into sustainable semi-commercial enterprises. This technical assistance seeks to improve access to land and water, introduce proven production technology and build post-harvest handling, processing and marketing capacities. The project expects sales of value-added produce won't depend entirely on the export market but seek expanded access to the domestic market for locally produced goods. Project activities include: (1) contributing to the growth of the Palestinian economy; (2) reducing its dependence on external assistance; (3) reducing poverty levels; and (4) reducing food insecurity by providing domestic markets with affordable local produce.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased access to quality land and water resources; (2) enhanced capacity of farmers to apply cost-effective, market-oriented and quality-based production practices; (3) improved access to and use of environmentally sound post-harvest infrastructure; (4) strengthened capacity of cooperatives and women’s associations to manage and administer a modern cooperative in an effective and gender-equitable manner; (5) strengthened the capacity of cooperatives and women’s associations to provide marketing services to their members; and (6) strengthened the capacity of a cooperative umbrella organization to provide cooperatives and women’s associations with access to support services.

Results achieved as of March 2021 include: (1) over 9,300 households (of whom 23,818 are women and 24,791 men) are improved with improved access to quality land and sustainable water resources; (2) improved growing conditions for 286 farming households (of which 80 are women-led) have expanded production practices and adopted crop diversification; (3) 3,922 farmers (of whom 1,056 are women) and their households reported increased skills and knowledge resulting from the tailored capacity development training and support, including exchange field visits; (4) processing of an additional 36,000 tons of high-value fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs due to post-harvest improvements, leading to increased annual profits of 25 to 35 percent; and (5) supported 4,872 cooperative members and personnel (of whom 1,056 are women) with technical training capacity, with 80 percent applying international principles of cooperatives, increasing the capacity of the Palestinian Agricultural Cooperatives Union to develop consumer branding and market member products.

• Proactive disclosure