Program Definition:
The technical guidance program is a collection of interventions aimed at achieving PARC’s first and second strategic objectives. The first is to strengthen the economic role in contributing to the realization of food security and sustainable agricultural development. The second goal focuses on assisting to strengthen and create sustainability within organizations and unions with grassroots, specialized, and union foundations, as this is the class of people whom the program targets.
General Aim of the Program:
The general aim of the program is to implement environmentally friendly practices. This includes phasing out the use of chemical production inputs as well as implementing principles and legislation for human and agricultural safety, such as those outlined by international agricultural certification bodies such as Organización Internacional Agropecuaria (OIA) and GlobalGAP (Global Good Agricultural Practices), in various regions of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Specific Program Objectives:
1. To implement interventions that cover support for women and farmers in grassroots organizations and cooperatives in rural regions.
2. To build and develop the capacities of the administrative officers in grassroots organizations and cooperatives in rural regions so that they can successfully manage institutions to meet the needs of residents in their regions.
The Program Includes:
1. Implementing a specialized program for training recently-graduated agricultural engineers, of which more than 40 graduate annually in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. More than 1000 engineers have graduated from this program thus far.
2. Converting more than 6000 dunams into organic farms that focus on preserving the environment and relying only on natural resources.
3. Supporting and backing farmers in obtaining certification from the European Union as well as support in obtaining certification from GLOBALGAP, NOP, BIOSUISS, JAS. These different types of certifications broaden the horizons for marketing Palestinian products in different regions throughout the world, in turn helping farmers to better market their high quality products both locally and internationally.
4. Contributing to the establishment of The Palestinian Centre for Organic Agriculture, the first organization of its kind in Palestine, which will grant different kinds of organic certifications in domestic prices.
5. Implementing a special program for giving organic certifications for large quantities of olive oil, as well as enabling organic certification for all stages of olive oil production. This will facilitate marketing world-wide, where the oil’s quality will be able to compete well and receive various global awards.
6. Implementing activities focused on introducing the use of bees and hummingbirds in green houses to pollinate tomatoes, allowing production to increase in a natural, environmentally friendly way.
7. Improving more than 25 different types of local agricultural crops that are produced in Palestine, as well as encouraging farmers to use domestic seeds that are considered appropriate for the local soil and climate and that grow in the natural atmosphere without the need for fertilizers or chemical pesticides.
8. Participating in managing the Master’s Program in Sustainable Rural Development at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis and a similar program at the Baccalaureate level at the Al-Quds Open University. We will also participate in the committee for managing the Masters in International Cooperation and Development program at Bethlehem University.
9. Participating in a number of scientific research projects such as “The Impact of the Olive Fly on the Quality of Palestinian Olive Oil” or “Re-using Treated Water in Olive Irrigation.”
10. Establishing and developing training centres for rural area development, such as:
• Developing the Zababdeh Centre
• Developing the Jericho Centre
• Establishing a Ramallah Centre
• Working on establishing a centre in the city of Hebron in cooperation with Al-Quds University
