Operation Protective Edge is expected to cause a jump in tomato and potato prices this week, Israel Farmers Union President Dubi Amitai warned today. He said that since the IDF began operations in the Gaza Strip nine days ago, hundreds of acres of agricultural fields in the area bordering Gaza were not being worked, and farmers were being denied access to them. "Farmers can't get to fields that are less than one kilometer from the fence separating Israel from the Gaza Strip, and many crops are being neglected. A shortage is in store, and I predict that it will already result in a price rise tomorrow. Every day that passes increases the economic damage."
According to Amitai, "All of Israel's vegetable crop activity at this time is concentrated in the northern Negev. There is no agricultural activity in the Arava region at the moment, because it's out of season. Farmers in the Negev can't reach their fields, and those that can are exposed to rocket attacks, because Iron Dome doesn't protect them. The system defines agricultural areas as open fields, and doesn't launch rockets to intercept rockets landing there."
Amitai, who toured communities near the Gaza Strip yesterday together with Minister of Agriculture Yair Shamir and Ministry of Agriculture director general Rammi Cohen, pointed out a shortage of shelters near agricultural hothouses. "Farmers go to work no matter what happens. Working, irrigating, and fertilizing his fields is in a farmer's DNA. These people are exposing themselves to great danger every hour of every day. They can't be left without any basic shelter. The Ministry of Agriculture says the Ministry of Defense is responsible, and I wonder why (former) Deputy Minister of Defense Danny Danon has not dealt with such an important problem during his term, instead of spending time on Likud Central Committee matters," Amitai complained.
A third of cowsheds under fire
The distress caused by Operation Protective Edge is not confined to vegetable growers near the Gaza Strip. Israel Cattle Breeders Association secretary general Avitar Dotan says that a third of all cowsheds in Israel are currently under fire: "In most of the cowsheds located 7-40 km from the Gaza Strip, there is no shelter. Only cowsheds less than seven km from Gaza have shelters."
Two cowsheds have already been hit by rockets from Gaza, and one of them in a kibbutz bordering the Gaza Strip was severely damaged yesterday. The rocket that hit the cowshed killed 30 cows and injured 20 more. At the end of last week, a rocket hit a different cowshed in the Lachish region, killing 11 cows. Dotan is currently in talks with the Ministry of Agriculture for joint financing of shelters for cowsheds in southern Israel.
In the course of the fighting over the past nine days, a number of chicken coops have also been hit, and the access roads to agricultural fields in southern Israel have been damaged. In addition to the reports of damage, reports have reached the Ministry of Agriculture in recent days that foreign workers employed in communities within rocket range have fled. The ministry is collecting data about the number of foreign workers who have gone missing in recent days in an attempt to solve this problem. 400 new foreign workers are scheduled to arrive in Israel in the coming days.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 16, 2014
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