In Beit Layah, we arrive at Akhran Abou Khoussa farm by a sandy and broken road. This 45-year-old son of a peasant cultivates 15 hectares of fruit and vegetables. Let’s go through the solar panels, under a greenhouse we discover strawberries that grow not on the ground but in tubs of soil suspended from the ceiling and aligned for tens of meters. “Me, I do intensive agriculture, Akhran explains. We rationalize the use of water. Any excess water here is reused for other crops and an average of 70% water savings compared to traditional techniques. “
The fresh water pumped from the ground is used to water the tubs, it seeps out from below and flows into pipes that bring it back to a collection basin for tomatoes and cucumbers. In conventional cultivation, Akhran produces 3 tons of strawberries per hectare per year, 8 tons in this way and without fertilizer. Instead, he uses Phytoseiulus Persimilis. “We prefer to use these spiders, which are very useful because they eat insects rather than toxic pesticides. We prefer natural agriculture, it is a modern method which makes it possible to obtain products from the land without pesticides and therefore good for health. human. “
Soon these strawberries will be sold for 1.50 euros per kilo in Gaza, 5 euros in the West Bank. It would be a dozen euros in Europe, in the dead of winter, if exports were still possible, but this is not the case because of Israeli restrictions. 32 employees from five local families work here year round, plus seven extras for strawberries. The farm regularly receives visits from the FAO, the UN food agency, or humanitarian associations. Today a group of eight women, including Khada Larian of Mercy Corps. “We are here to have a good time, she explains, and also to learn more about growing strawberries. How they take care of these and other plantations. It is a success because this type of agriculture is only done in this sector, but all over the Gaza Strip, people like this kind of fruit. So people come to this farm on purpose for the quality of its crops. “
Akhran walks up the aisles of his greenhouse. He looks affectionately at his strawberry plants, the leaves of which he strokes as if they were small animals.
