Due to the crisis in Israeli agriculture since the outbreak of the War of the Iron Swords, loans and financial advice from NGOs Ogenthe Jewish Agency and an agricultural volunteer organization Hashomer Hachadash concluded a joint loan program for small farmers of up to NIS 100,000.
The project is being carried out thanks to an emergency fund launched by Hashomer Hachadash and an interest-free loan organization for small businesses. SparkIL (led by CEO Na’ama Ore), and relies on donations from Jews in the diaspora. Most of the loans are intended for farmers in the border area of the Gaza Strip and northern Israel.
“They have suffered a very hard blow. There is a labor shortage, cash flow is problematic, some have failed to harvest their produce and the vast majority have not received any compensation until now” , says Yoel Zilberman, founder and CEO of Hashomer. Hashadash.
“So we embarked on a five-year interest-free loan program. There are several criteria to obtain a loan, such as an annual turnover of up to 2 million shekels and proof of losses caused by war,” Zilberman said. adds.
The organization helps farmers in several additional ways. “We have a team that helps farmers fill out their claims, because a lot of them don’t know how to make one,” Zilberman says. “We also help in terms of manpower. 150,000 volunteers passed through us during the four months of war.
« Another form of assistance is direct connection with investors. This happens mainly in technological agriculture, but also in conventional agriculture, for example in the Golan Heights and in Nitzana. Our goal is a spectacular expansion technological developments.
“It may not be a high-tech company where you see the return on investment in three to five years; we are talking about six to eight years, but these are infrastructures for the next twenty-five years. It’s about the long term. « .
Hashomer Hachadash includes some 2,500 farms, about a quarter of all farms in Israel. Its activities cover a network of schools, a youth movement, a placement company, a Nachal settlement group, agrotourism, etc.
Learn from Qatar
Zilberman says he himself is preparing to plant a vineyard « right on the Syrian border, 100 meters from it », adding: « I’m not afraid, quite the contrary. This is precisely the moment. Israel is on the cusp of a period in which it risks experiencing a real deficit in its ability to produce food. Building agricultural infrastructure will ensure nutritional independence, and that is essential. Today Today, we are dependent on countries like Russia and Turkey, with whom our relations are fragile.
“Just look at the strategic shift Qatar made in 2017. After moderate Sunni countries imposed an embargo on it, Qatar began to engage in agriculture and now produces more than 70% of the food it needs. ‘he consumes. here too. If farmers go bankrupt, we will lose assets. It is in our hands to avoid this.
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – fr.globes.co.il – February 1, 2024.
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