Greenhouse Experiment for Self Sufficiency

Raja Ahmed Zaqzuk, a 48-year-old Palestinian woman, confers with CARE field worker Maisa Shquier (R) in her greenhouse, on 11 September 2008; in Al Jadida village near Jenin.

Zaqzuk, is apart of an experiment for self sufficiency by growing seasonal vegetables and fruit in a environmentally friendly greenhouse supplied and supported by CARE in a project which is funded by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office.

While some contend that this project is for needy families, it has been reported as strictly and experiment for self sufficiency which is becoming more of a global project alternative for stabilization for countries that are actually improvised.

These types of projects are very important in Palestine, with the belief of helping to better certain problems such as the global food crisis in third and forth world countries; to have a chance at better lives and living conditions.

For it is a firm belief not just in Islam, but also Judaism; to always help one’s fellowman in what ever there need may be.

In food crisis, Cuba limits sales so all can eat

Chives for sale are seen at a public market in Havana, Thursday, 9 October 2008. Cuba is limiting how much basic fruits and vegetables citizens can buy at farmers' markets after two hurricanes wiped out more than 30 percent of the island's crops last month.

10 October 2008
By ANNE-MARIE GARCIA

HAVANA -Cuba is limiting how much basic fruits and vegetables people can buy at farmers' markets, irritating some customers but ensuring there's enough — barely — to go around.

The lines are long and some foods are scarce, but because the government has maintained and even increased rations in some areas, Cubans who initially worried about getting enough to eat now seem confident they won't go hungry despite the destruction of 30 percent of the island's crops by hurricanes Gustav and Ike last month.

"Of the little there is, there is some for everyone," 65-year-old Mercedes Grimau said as queued up behind more than 50 people to buy lettuce, limited to two pounds per person.

"I'm not afraid that I will be left without food, but it's a pain to think about all the work we are going to have to go through," Grimau added. "Two or three months ago the farmers markets were well-stocked."

Cuba's government regularly stockpiles beans and other basics, and Economics Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez said authorities are ready to increase the $2 billion they already spend on food imports annually. The world credit crisis won't affect much of those imports because U.S. law forces communist Cuba to use cash to purchase American farm goods. But imports from other countries bought with credit could become more difficult or expensive.

The government is delivering all items distributed each month on the universal ration that provides Cubans with up to two weeks of food — including eggs, beans, rice and potatoes — at very low cost. In some hard-hit provinces, extra food has been added.

But the rest of the food Cubans supplement their diets with at supply-and-demand farmers markets and government produce stands has dwindled, prompting the government to limit consumer purchases and cap prices on items including rice, beans, root crops and fresh greens.

Rodriguez has sought to dispel speculation about a replay of the desperate early 1990s, when shelves were bare and people survived for weeks on one small meal daily. Cubans who lived through deprivation after the Soviet Union's collapse say the current food situation doesn't come close.

"It is true that it will take us some time to bring the agricultural production up to the levels that existed before the hurricanes," Rodriguez told state television this week. "Nevertheless, there is no reason to speculate or assume that there will be any hunger."

Although Cuba's relative financial isolation partially protects it from the jolts of the world economy, an extended credit crisis could stunt the island's foreign currency income if Cubans living abroad lose jobs and stop sending family remittances, or if potential tourists can no longer afford to travel.

But now, Cuba's top challenge is to increase local production of fruits and vegetables sold at the farmers' markets.

Waiting at one market on a recent morning, 55-year-old homemaker Regla Suazo said, "At least with the measures I know I can buy something." Shortly thereafter, the first truck of the day pulled up with green beans, green onions, guavas, avocados, corn, squash, cassava root and sweet potatoes.

But quantities were much smaller than usual. Vendor Nadia Gomez, who received nothing that day, said police checkpoints leading into Havana now turn away trucks unauthorized to market produce in the capital or have been ordered send their goods to harder-hit areas.

Cuban agricultural officials expect six months of food shortages, and are increasing short-cycle crops such as salad greens and taking other measures to ensure everyone gets enough to eat.

At Cuatro Caminos farmers market, among Havana's largest and most varied, vendor Juan Carlos Martinez lamented he had only papayas, guavas and pineapples to sell. "This isn't the business it used to be," he said.

Feeding the World

This is a law by Allah, which is the chain on how everyone is to be saved from starvation; this did not just include produce and meat, but everything that was necessary to fend off anyone from not having a full stomach.

For example, if a farmer had a good harvest of corn, let’s say, he goes to the market to sell, so his family does not go hungry. Then he feeds those who are poor in his country, which has no money; then what is left, is put for the global situation so no one will be hungry anywhere else.

What is interesting about this law, as far as I know, it can be found not just in Islam, but also Judaism.

UN: Palestinians facing food crisis

The UN has found that even farmers and fishermen are less unable to feed their families [Reuters]

February 22, 2007

A United Nations study has found that growing numbers of people in Gaza and the West Bank are "food insecure" and becoming dependent on food aid.

Poverty has risen since the international community cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won parliamentary elections last year, the new report from the World Food Programme (WFP) said.

The weakening of the Palestinian economy has also made previously secure workers - such as fishermen, farmers, and small traders - increasingly desperate, a UN press release publicising the report said on Thursday.

Kirstie Campbell, spokeswoman for the WFP, said that 46 per cent of Palestinians are now food insecure or vulnerable.

In 2004, 35 per cent of Palestinians were food insecure, she said.

"Many people, who cannot afford to buy food, have been forced to sell off valuable assets such as land or tools," the report said.

To tackle the growing need, the WFP increased its food assistance by 25 per cent in the past year, feeding about 260,000 non-refugees in Gaza and 400,000 in the West Bank.

Another UN agency, UNRWA, handles food distribution for refugees.

Arnold Vercken, the WFP country director, said: "The poorest families are now living a meagre existence totally reliant on assistance, with no electricity or heating and eating food prepared with water from bad sources.

"This is putting their long-term health at risk."

Campbell called the increased humanitarian assistance a "Band-Aid" solution that did not offer a permanent solution to the economic problems of Palestinians.

Source