to assist
48 700 people
FAO requires
USD 11.2 million
period
January – December 2019
The possible exacerbation of the protracted crisis and declining funding calls for urgent early action to respond to and prevent a further deterioration of the food security situation.
Daily life in the West Bank and Gaza Strip continues to be characterized by access restrictions to natural resources, movement of goods and people and limited productive capacities. Moreover, in the Gaza Strip, recurrent conflict and free fall of the economy and services has eroded the resilience of vulnerable families and their capacity to cope.
Objectives
FAO is working with partners in the Food Security Sector to:
• Increase the resilience of the most vulnerable households.
• Help alleviate the erosion of livelihoods.
• Promote innovative farming and sustainable use of land and water resources.
Activities
Restore agricultural production
rehabilitation of farms and productive assets | solar energy systems | pest control | training | promotion of sustainable use of land and water resources
Support vulnerable women and youth in herding communities
drought-tolerant seeds | rangeland rehabilitation | promotion of sustainable fuel and fodder I water cisterns | animal shelters | small-scale farming inputs | dairy processing equipment | market accessibility
Emergency livelihood support
wells and water pumps | water use optimization | pest control | cash and in-kind assistance | rehabilitation of greenhouses | fertilizers
Strengthen food security coordination
strategic planning | local capacity development | resilience building | disaster risk reduction | stakeholder coordination preparedness | contingency planning
Impact on food security
It is estimated that over one-third of Palestinian households in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are food insecure. Restrictions on the movement of people and goods, and limited access to essential services have had a significant impact on Palestinian livelihoods. Renewed demonstrations and repeated violent confrontations that threaten to escalate into a full-blown conflict, which could result in large-scale damages to the agriculture sector and worsen the humanitarian situation for the highly-vulnerable population. Continued energy shortages since 2017 have had a severe impact on agricultural livelihoods that face increased costs of production in an unpredictable market environment. While emergency fuel supply to operate the Gaza Power Plant has provided some temporary respite, no long-term solution has been reached to ensure stable electricity supply.
FAO and its partners are committed to improving food security and supporting agriculture-based livelihoods of vulnerable Palestinian families. There is an opportunity to shift the response from immediate to more sustainable access to food, focusing on livelihood resilience and agriculture. This approach would require more predictable funding and commitment from resource partners. As humanitarian needs continue to increase, funding for Palestine has dropped to an all-time low with only 44.4 percent of the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) funded by November 2018. As a result, the 2019 HRP focuses exclusively on the most critical and urgent needs. If the required assistance is not ensured for vulnerable households, food insecurity could increase, livelihoods could be irreversibly lost, and families would continue to adopt negative coping mechanisms (such as reducing their food intake, selling assets or cutting spending on basic needs like education and health) to try to keep their heads above water.