The Pantomath
Green technologies in cooperative date farming in the Jordan Valley Katie Stobbs Underserviced communities in the West Bank often lack access to water for agriculture and consistent energy supply for groundwater pumping. This is especially true in the Jordan Valley of the West Bank where date farming is the dominant crop. Agriculture is an essential economic and cultural activity for Palestinian farmers and the Jordan Valley is considered Palestine’s “food basket� due to its distinctive location and optimal climate conditions. The cultivation of date palms is concentrated within this region and in the greater Jericho area (Daiq 2006). Water resources are a vital element of Palestinian ecosystems and lack of access to these resources remains a key point in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the region (Shevah 2014). Sources consist mainly of surface and groundwater resources (springs and wells). Limited water resources have led to over-extraction from the shallow aquifer which leads to deterioration of water quality, increasing the water salinity. Date palms only require twenty percent of the water required by banana trees, and are more tolerant of salinity than other crops such as vegetables and cash crops. Thus, due to the deterioration of the water quality and increased salinity of water in the Jordan Valley, date farming in the Jordan Valley and Jericho regions can be considered an acceptable solution to the lack of availability and quality of water sources. However, the growth of date palm cultivation in the Jericho and Jordan Valley regions has not reached its full potential; there are numerous barriers impeding progress. Insufficient water is the greatest factor hindering the expansion of date palm cultivation. Despite the fact that date palms can survive in arid conditions due to their increased tolerance to salinity, there needs to be sufficient irrigation of adequate quality in order to maximise potential yields (Abu-Qaoud 2015). Additional obstacles include steep investment costs, poor marketing, and unfair competition from Israeli products (Ighbareyeh et al. 2015). This is partially due to the continued control of land, water, market page 6
