The Electronic Intifada 27 May 2020
When Israel’s 13-year-old siege doesn’t stand in the way, Gaza farmers sometimes ship strawberries to the occupied West Bank, Israel and Europe.
Thanks to Haneen Abu Daqqa’s farm, the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza is almost self-sufficient in strawberries.
“I wanted to do something special and rare in the Gaza Strip,” Abu Daqqa, 28, told The Electronic Intifada.
“I am the first woman in southern Gaza to manage a vertical farm for strawberries.”
Farmers maximize use of space by growing the strawberries in hanging basins instead of in the ground. This allows them to triple their yield within the same space.
“One dunam of vertically farmed strawberries is the equivalent of two and a half dunams in the ground,” Abu Daqqa said.
A dunam is 1,000 square meters.
Abu Daqqa received guidance from her father Ayman, a long-time farmer.
“With my 15-year experience growing tomatoes, I wanted to help her,” he told The Electronic Intifada.
“I gave her part of the greenhouse to develop her project.”
Video by Abdullah al-Naamy, Ibrahim Dalloul and Emad Abo Aita.
Thumbnail photo by Ashraf Amra / APA Images
