Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Gaza flower producers watch their industry die
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 :When Hassan Sheikh Hijazi first opened his flower farm in 1991, it flourished. "We had a very good family business," he says. "We exported hundreds of thousands of flowers to Holland and from there our flowers were sold across Europe. The traders knew our flowers were good quality -- and Gaza was open for business." With its mild coastal weather and well-drained soil, the Gaza Strip is an ideal location for commercial flower farming.
There are more than a hundred small flowers farms across the Gaza Strip, and they employ some 7,000 farm workers between them.
The majority of farms are located around Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, but Hassan Hijazi and his family live just outside Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, where they have a small flower farm of 24 donums (a donum is around 1,000 square meters). They grow carnations and chrysanthemums. After more then seventeen years as a commercial flower farmer, Hassan Hijazi is now head of the local Rafah Flower Farmers Union.
"Ten years ago farmers across Gaza were exporting 80 million flowers a year to Europe, including roses," he says. "But the last few years have been extremely difficult, and this one has been the worst yet. I exported exactly [only] 20,000 flowers this year due to the closure. I have lost more than one million shekels, but so has every flower farmer in Gaza. We are all just losing money now."
The average annual turnover of Gaza's commercial flower industry is $13 million
The majority of farms are located around Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, but Hassan Hijazi and his family live just outside Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, where they have a small flower farm of 24 donums (a donum is around 1,000 square meters). They grow carnations and chrysanthemums. After more then seventeen years as a commercial flower farmer, Hassan Hijazi is now head of the local Rafah Flower Farmers Union.
"Ten years ago farmers across Gaza were exporting 80 million flowers a year to Europe, including roses," he says. "But the last few years have been extremely difficult, and this one has been the worst yet. I exported exactly [only] 20,000 flowers this year due to the closure. I have lost more than one million shekels, but so has every flower farmer in Gaza. We are all just losing money now."
The average annual turnover of Gaza's commercial flower industry is $13 million
Read More
For more information:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article93...
Add Your Comments
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$230.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network